The Shadow of War
by RawrXTrix
Summary: A dangerous laboratory experiment escapes illegal testing grounds, pitting our hero against overwhelming odds of the dangerous foes attempting to retrieve it. The journey will lead to self discovery and the secrets of the galaxy revealed that had long since been thought forgotten...
1. Chapter 1 - A Brutal Awakening

Blackness. Tyken was drifting in and out of consciousness as he heard distant voices.

'… Levels… increase the...'.

'Are you sure… good idea sir?'.

'… demanded results, we will … taking some risks, increase it'.

A sharp sting of pain coursed through his body, it felt like every vein in his body was being ripped out. Every muscle tensed as he fought to endure, the veins on his forehead popped, his body was drenched in sweat. He desperately tried, but could not repress the agony that engulfed him. Blackness begun to take hold of his consciousness. His throat began to involuntarily make a deep gargling noise.

'Sir he's going into shock'

'Do not stop! I will shoot you myself if you abort!'

Tylen was slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. The room was large, lights everywhere. five men, two droids, operating tools that could potentially be used as weapons, two guards outside the door. Another surge of pain cascaded through Tyken's body, his face twisted into a grimace of pain. He screamed. He was on the verge of losing consciousness, but something was compelling Tyken to reach deep within himself to the recesses of his soul… there was something within him that he could use to free himself… he could feel it…

'Sir he… I….he… '

'What?'

'I don't know sir, these readings… they can't be right… '

Tyken's eyes opened. His vision was blurred and a haze of red covering everything, but he saw several figures in white outfits going over computer consoles and a large machine to his right that was connected to his body. Someone pushed a button connected to the machine and another spike of pain coursed through Tyken's body… but… the faint glimmer within his being. Something begun to bubble within, a fain sensation that felt unfamiliar, but Tyken knew what it was, He rose it to the surface as quickly as he could.

'Sir?'

'… Abort the procedure now'

It was power. It rose to the surface, surging upwards with rage and fury. All of his muscles tensed, then a massive wave of energy exploded outwards from Tyken's chest, blasting the whole room with concussive force. All five men bowled over, knocked to their feet. The droids were smashed with energy and flew backwards, colliding with the walls, smashing them to pieces. Glass scattered all across the floor as instruments and monitors shattered.

Tyken's vision begun to clear.

He saw leather straps binding his hands and legs, restraining him to a bed. Tyken pushed against his restraints, they flew off into the walls, and Tyken begun to slowly raise to his feet.

The men began to regain their senses, the first one looked at Tyken in shock. He frantically spoke into a device on his wrist, 'Lock the facility down now!'.

Tyken could sense doors being barred and barricaded. The two men outside the door were shouting, their weapons drawn and pointed at the door. Tyken's awareness stretched throughout the facility, he could sense troopers mobilising at every point of the station. Yes, he could sense it, they were on a space station.

The men in the room were now on their feet, they stared at Tyken, wide eyed shock on their faces. Tyken's eyes were glowing red with power, a red energy visibly encircled his body, , his fists were electrified with power, his face showed all the menace and fury that he felt.

The first man began to reason, 'Look, just... calm down, your probably... quite confused at the moment, but if you'll let us-', Tyken glared at them briefly before raising his hand, opening his fist. All five men clutched their throats at the same time, and all dropped to the floor in anguish, fighting off a force that couldn't be see. Tyken closed his fist, crushing their throats. He could sense the life ebbing away from their bodies.

He then turned his glare towards the door. The outside guards, having seen through the glass what Tyken had just done, were visibly shaken and backed well away from the door. Their shouts at people in the distance became more desperate.

Tyken focused and pushed a wave of force energy towards the door. It smashed off its hinges and flew at the two men, who dived to the sides to avoid being crushed. Lightning cracked to life and shot forth from Tykens hand, engulfing the two guards who begun screaming in agony. One of them straining against the onslaught of electricity weakly begged, 'Please…. Stop…', Tyken pushed harder, jolting both of them, then their movements stopped altogether. The lightning subsided from Tyken's hand.

Tyken needed a ship to escape, but also needed a weapon,, he wouldn't last long without being able to defend himself. He reached out with his consciousness, trying to find something he could use.

He searched rooms, corridors, storage spaces, he needed something fast, he could sense heavy droids were converging on him and they would soon be upon him.

There, a weapon!

Tyken reached out with his mind, his hand outstretched, he focused his mind on the device, pulling it forth from it's resting place. He could feel it moving, he narrowed his focus, visualised the weapon, pulling it towards himself. It was propelled through the air with tremendous speed, glinting in the light as it flew towards Tyken's hand. He caught it and drew it immediately, the blue blade cracked to life as the lightsabers energy surged.

At that moment, a squad of blaster droids appeard and immediately opened with a barrage of laser fire.

Tyken, with an almost inhuman amount of skill and grace dodged the initial volly, then his lightsaber blurred and twirled through the air as laser blasts were deflected everywhere. One of the droids was struck with a ricochet as the others pressed forward, their hail of laser fire unrelenting. Tyken, pushed hard with his legs and used his force abilities to augment his leap. He vaulted high into the air, twisting into a back flip. Now airborne, he gestured towards the ground, lifting the droids into the air, levitating them a few feet off the ground. Lightsaber still drawn, he landed in the middle of the now airborne droids, and with one swift manoeuvre, spun with his lightsaber outstretched, cutting the droids to pieces and sending parts everywhere. Tyken then pushed his force energy outwards, pushing the remains of the floating droids in all directions, sending debris flying all over the corridor. He stepped over the remains of the destroyed robots and pressed onwards down the corridor.

Arriving to a hanger bay, Tyken surveyed the ships, he spotted a scout ship. A small quick craft to house a single person, that would do nicely. He advanced towards it, as he did so a large holographic face appeared on the wall. The face was masked, hooded and foreboding, a visor and helmet obscured his head and eyes. A voice boomed forth from the image, a loud, distorted and robotic voice. Did it even belong to a person? 'Get back into your chamber now! It is in your best interests to stand down immediately! I've invested too much into you just have you leave! Should you go I swear I will hunt you down to the ends of-', the image was interrupted by a barrage of lightning from Tyken's hand. The screen exploded in a shower of fine glass, covering the hanger in transparent dust.

At that moment, Troopers rushed into the hanger. They took defensive positions. Orders, commands and threats were being made over radio and by ranking troopers as the men pulled weapons out and begun to fire.

Tyken's lightsaber became a blur of movement as the incoming hail of fire was deflected everywhere. One of the troopers shouted in pain as a stray blast caught him in the shoulder. He crashed to the floor in pain, causing the others to hesitate, a moment that Tyken seized. Lighting chained viciously from his hand and screams filled the hanger, confused cries of fear and pain rang through the air. Tyken motioned upwards, lifting the electrified troopers several feet into the air. Tyken grunted in anger as he motioned back downwards, slamming the troopers into the ground.

The hanger deck cracked from the impact,. Tyken surveyed the hanger, all of the men had been killed in his furious lightning torrent, while a few more fled the scene. The hanger was now otherwise devoid of threats. Tyken approached the scout ship, motioned at the door to the cockpit opening it, then launched himself high into the air and into the pilots seat.

Tyken knew he had never been at the helm of one of these ships before, but somehow the controls felt familiar. As the ship begun to levitate off the ground, Tyken used his mind to push towards the hanger door. It buckled and smashed, and was then flung into space, depressurizing the hanger. Tyken cautiously flew the ship out of the station, he turned the nose of the ship away from the nearby planet and towards open space. It didn't matter where he went, once he had made the jump to hyperspace he would be able to disappear easily. He made the preparations as quickly as he could, but before the ship was able to complete the jump, the station turrets whirred into action and opened fire upon his tiny craft.

The laser blast smashed into the ship and cascaded throughout the craft. The ships engine exploded in a fiery outburst, and the impact sent the ship careening towards the planet. Tyken begun to smash buttons in an attempt to stabilise the now totally out of control ship hurtling towards the planet. None of the controls were functioning, that cascade must have taken out absolutely all of the ships systems, The ship entered the planets atmosphere, bursting into flames of re-entry. He was out of options. He held out his hands and pushed force energy towards the ground with absolutely everything he had left…


	2. Chapter 2 - Love and curiosity

'Mum, Dad, get up!'. This is Jiri every day, coming in to wake his parents up before he left. 'Common dad! It's morning!', Jiri shook his dads shoulder vigorously. Jake begun rousing from his sleep. '… ghnn… what is it? is it the end of the world?'. Jiri laughed 'No dad it's morning! Aren't you going to see me off before I go hunting?'. Jake rubbed his eyes, attempting to shake the remnants of sleep, 'Your like a human alarm clock you know that mate? Yeah, I'm getting up, I'll make sure your mother follows'. 'Thanks dad' Jiri called behind him as he ran out of the room. Jake took his wife's shoulder, 'Your son is demanding our presence Marie'. She begun to groan, she often remarked that she was not a morning person. 'Can we not appease him with a virgin sacrifice? I'd be willing to lose you for another 5 minutes sleep' Marie sided from her half slumber. Jake smiled, 'I'd be happy to do that for you, but we're unfortunately all out of virgins', he slapped her butt through the sheets as he left the room.

Jake made his way into the Kitchen, Jiri was already face first in his breakfast. Jake remarked, 'your getting up earlier, eating more and using less decorum every day you know Jiri'. Jiri looked up from his plate, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. 'What's decorum?' he asked. Jake smiled, 'kind of like manners'. Jiri grinned, 'yeah, it's definitely too late for me, I'm almost 19 so manners, decorum, and the other fancy words for it are not going to help at this point. I guess I can't be a politician right?'. Jake ruffled his sons hair 'Indeed, but even if you somehow did we'd still love you'.

Marie come into the room yawning, 'so how's our little hunter doing today? Going to catch us something tasty to eat tonight?'. Jiri replied, 'Little? I'm 19 mum and yeah, I got a good feeling about today, I'm gonna catch something big, I can feel it,'. Jiri finished his bowl and stood up grabbing his jacket off the back of his chair as he did so, 'alright then, I'm off – stay safe till I get back'. Marie called after him, 'don't forget your rifle! You spend all your time not hunting tinkering with that thing, would be a horrible waste to forget to bring it with you'. Jiri slung his bag over his shoulder 'I'm not going to forget my rifle mum'. He skirted the table and gave his mother a hug, then did the same to his father, before running out the door, calling as he left 'Going for real this time! Love you guys!'. Jake and Maria both called out, 'Love you too son!'.

Jake went to wash Jiri's dishes. Marie watched Jiri leave, bag on his back and rifle hoisted over his shoulder. She stayed silent for a while before asking Jake 'Do you ever worry about Jiri?'. Jake thought for a second. 'No' he replied. Marie continued her thought aloud 'I just worry that he might get in over his head, you know how impulsive he is, and he loves adventure. I mean, if something doesn't happen here, don't you worry that he'll just leave?'. Jake finished doing the dishes, walked over to Marie, gave her a big consoling hug and kissed her head. 'No, I'm not worried about any of that, he'll leave one day when he's ready, and when he does he'll be perfectly fine. He's a born hunter.'.

Jiri really did have a good feeling about today, he could feel the excitement tingle throughout his body, although he wasn't sure what he would be able to find. The animals all seemed to be acting strange of late, not leaving their lairs and acting much more cautiously than usual. Jiri was sweating lightly as he jogged through the underbrush, his keen eye keeping vigil for prey, surveying the ground, the distance and the horizon all at once. A time passed, and Jiri begun to feel the exertion of hunting, his lungs were feeling the light pain of tiredness It had been several hours worth of trekking and Jiri was unable to pick up a single trail, not an animal, not a scent, not a track, nothing. It was already midday by this point, the sun beat down relentlessly draining his energy, sweat covered his tanned face. 'I really should do this in the dark' Jiri remarked to himself. He climbed a nearby flat rock and sat, 'Oh well, guess I'll take a breather for a bit'. He pulled some dried fruit from his knapsack and begun to eat. The sweetness filled his body with a sense of joy the moment the fruit touched his tongue, he begun to feel re-invigorated. As he ate, he pulled out his rifle and begun to tinker with it. Jiri loved tinkering with his rifle, and pretty much everything he could tinker with. He even had a ship in the shed that he was working on. His parents didn't know about it, he spent most of his time there when not hunting however, so perhaps they suspected something. He planned to take the ship into the stars and travel, but he hadn't the heart to tell them. Jiri fiddled with the rifles scope, adjusting it's calibration settings. He was aware that many of the modifications that he had made to it made it a very illegal weapon, it had a massive amount of stopping power and considerable range. But those were the regulations imposed by the first order, and they were so far from Jiri's planet that their jurisdiction meant pretty much nothing. No-one that was local would bust him for it, they were a small tightly knit community and everyone knew everyone. Besides, a rifle that kills instantly takes away the pain animals might otherwise feel if they were to survive the shot, at least that's how Jiri looked at it.

Jiri sighed with satisfaction, he finished eating and he had finished modifying the weapon. He slapped the cartridge into the base of the gun, remarking to himself, 'Done, now I just need a target to use it on'. He picked up the rifle, testing the scope a final time to ensure it was right, he lightly humming a soothing tune he learned from his mother. He spied what he thought might be Bantha tracks in the dirt far towards the horizon. Jiri felt a wave of excitement burst within himself, a fully grown batha could keep them fed for weeks. Wait, there was something else in the direction though, thick black smoke. Jiri aimed the rifle upwards, towards the origin of the smoke. The trail seemed to come from the sky. A crashed ship perhaps? There hadn't been any deliveries incoming that he had been made aware of, and he was mostly aware of everything that happened in this place. But it would seem that a ship was somehow downed, perhaps malfunctioned or something. Jiri paused thoughtfully for a moment before hoisting his gun on his shoulder, and remarking 'well I'd better check this out, whatever it is', as he made his way toward the distant smoke.


	3. Chapter 3 - A Friend in Need

Jiri climbed the rocks leading to where the smoke was coming from. It was leading him into a valley well known by the locals as an area of animal attacks. Jiri hoped that the wild rippers were all sleeping at the moment. From his vantage point he peered down into the valley and could see a crashed ship. It was small and it looked like it had been hit hard, the engine was totally shot to pieces, Jiri was amazed the hull was actually intact, the smoke was thick and pouring out of the tiny craft. Based on engine damage Jiri could see, it was likely that whoever was inside had no control over the craft prior to impact.

Jiri approached, not sure if he would find any survivors, but he kept his weapon ready, partially out of fear of the rippers, and partially out of caution for whoever might be inside the craft. He leaned down and peered through the windshield. He saw a man inside, a man who wasn't moving. 'It's alright buddy, I'm coming in for you', although Jiri couldn't tell if he was alive or not, he was half talking to himself. Jiri rummaged through his rucksack before pulling out a small hand held tool. Pushing a button on the tool, a short blue later stream emanated from the device, which Jiri used to cut the hatch of the craft. A few minutes of cutting later, and the hatch was open, revealing it's occupant. He was wearing a form fitting black outfit, he looked quite tell, he had long blonde hair and… he had a lightsaber. Jiri was shocked, he had never seen one in real life before, only in pictures and in stories. This guy couldn't possibly be a Jedi though, they were all dead, just like the sith. But then again, how else would this guy have been able to get a hold of such a weapon?

Blackness. Tyken was slowly coming into consciousness. He he took in his surroundings, they were in a room, light creeping slightly through cracks in the ceilings and walls, shadows were cast everywhere. Tyken had a massive headache, he was hurting all over, evidently the landing took a lot out of him, his force powers had been enough to allow him to survive the landing. His force powers… Tyken realised that he felt… strange… weak. He felt none of the overwhelming power he had felt during his escape from… wait, someone was in the room with him. A darkened corner, there was someone there. The figure didn't move. Tyken instinctively reached for his lightsaber. It was gone. 'Hey, welcome to the land of the living' the figure said. 'I've taken your weapon, I'm sure you understand, besides it's the first time I've ever seen a lightsaber in real life'. The figure drew the lightsaber, the blue light from the blade illuminating his face. Tyken could see he was quite young, 19 perhaps 20. He also had an impressive rifle slung over his shoulder. The figure continued 'It's not everyday we get dude's falling from the sky with lightsabers around here. So who are you?'. Tyken wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say anything. 'Well? You can speak right?'. This time Tyken answered 'Yes'. 'Okay good, let's put that into practice then, one more time, who are you?'. 'I… I don't know' Tyken's face dropped as he spoke.

Jiri narrowed his brow 'You… don't know? Your not getting philosophical on me are you? Like, 'none of us really know ourselves' kind of thing right? You actually don't know who you are?'. 'That's correct' confirmed Tyken. Jiri was slightly confused at this, 'oookay then, where did you come from?'. 'I don't know'. 'You don't know where you come from? Do you know anything? I found you in a ship, do you know that?'. Tyken paused, then answered, 'I escaped. They were… doing things to me…'. Jiri retorted 'They? Escaped?' Jiri stared at Tyken a moment 'you know this is all really vague right?'. Jiri looked on expectantly at Tyken, who looked up and replied, 'a space station above this planet, they were… I don't know what they were doing… '. His face dropped again. Jiri sheathed the lightsaber and stood up 'Your from station Omega?' Tyken responded 'I told you I don't know'. Jiri holstered his rifle 'There's a few space stations around this planet, but station Omega is the biggest, and no one knows what goes on there, it's all very hush hush. It's something of a myth down here, a lot of ghost stories and stuff about the place'. Tyken remained silent, he could offer no more information.

'So what's your deal then?' Jiri continued. 'You fall out of the sky, your craft is shot to pieces, you survive when you should have died, you carry a lightsaber, and you don't know anything about yourself?', he leaned forward, 'I know i'm young, but I'm not stupid. Why was your ship shot down?'. Tyken paused before answering 'I was told I was valuable, they were doing things to me, painful things… look, I escaped people who were hurting me, it's that simple. Outside of that, I don't know anything about myself'. Jiri looked at Tyken's face, trying to detect a lie, He didn't see any. Jiri asked, Finally he said 'Okay, I don't believe you are dangerous, well at least I don't think you will kill me. Your lightsaber is yours again'.

Jiri placed the lightsaber into Tyken's hand. Tyken hesitated for the correct response before uttering, 'Thank you'. 'Hey, no problem dude' said Jiri as he slapped Tyken's back. Tyken shouted in pain, hunching over and grabbing his shoulder with his other hand. 'Oh sorry man, here, I'll help you with that'. Jiri reached back into his backpack and pulled out a medical scanner and bandages. Scanning the shoulder, he then injected Jiri with something and put his arm in a sling. 'There you go, looks like you broke your shoulder and arm, I've given you something to heal it up, but it will take some time, at least four hours for the bones to connect up and heal well enough for you to use the arm again'. Tyken looked at Jiri angrily 'I need that arm, they will come for me'. Jiri looked at Tyken perplexed, 'look, I still don't know who _they_ are, but from the sounds of it you will need help', a cheeky grin crossed his face 'and luckily for you, I am here!'. Tyken looked at the youth, Tyken didn't want to put his saviour in danger… But Tyken was exhausted, and wounded. He looked down at his now unusable arm and realised that his saviour was right, Tyken needed his help. 'This isn't ideal, but very well, your assistance is most appreciated', 'yeah your welcome'. Tyken put his lightsaber into his belt, and followed Jiri to the door out of the abandoned hut. Jiri asked, 'You at least got a name I can call you?'. '…Tyken'. Jiri smiled 'I'm Jiri, good to meet you dude, now let's get moving'.


	4. Chapter 4 - Disturbance

The ship jumped out of hyperspace with station Omega in view. Cypher pulled the ship into the newly ripped hole in the station. Droids were already repairing the damage as the ship landed. Cypher climbed out to meet his troops, his black helmet reflecting the hanger lights. He looked them over furiously, they had allowed him to escape. He could strangle all of the weak fools, but he needed them, he had to resist the urge. He turned to the ranking science officer 'How close were you to succeeding?' he probed, his metallic voice full of accusation. He looked at Cypher nervously, 'well, it's difficult to say Master Cypher, but we think they may have done so, the specimen that left was the first successful subject'. 'You are sure?' '… we are confident that they succeeded master, but without analysis we cannot be sure'. Cypher paused before continuing 'how long would it take to recreate the results?'. The scientist stuttered before answering 'master… during the escape all of the senior research staff were killed, and most of the experiment data was destroyed, it would take years, it might even be impossible to recreate the results without the specimen'.

Cypher seethed silently, his rage almost uncontrollable, but he had orders to give. 'Find the subject, bring him back alive, I don't care what methods you use, kill whoever you have to, but bring him back with his body intact'.

One of his troops asked 'Master, I am not sure that it will be possible to bring him back alive, I was present when he escaped, he is very powerful, surely we would be better off re-creating the experiment from scratch?' Cypher walked up to the trooper, towering over him. 'You engaged the subject, yet here you stand?'. '… well, I… he… ' Cypher swiftly pulled his light-saber out and cut the man's head off, the head flew through the air, his body hung suspended for a moment before toppling lifelessly to the ground. Cypher's rage rang throughout the hanger, his voice filled the space station as he loudly stated 'you WILL find the subject, you WILL return him to me… in the event you cannot engage, track him and contact me, and I will personally return him'.


	5. Chapter 5 - The Heavens Align

'So are you a jedi?'.

'No'.

'A sith?',

'No'.

'A human?',

'… '.

'That last one was a joke'.

'… right'.

Jiri was walking with a spring in his step, he hadn't spoken to anyone outside the township for some time and couldn't wait to get to know this guy. But this Tyken didn't seem interested, he looked agitated. Although if what he said about being captured was true, that wouldn't be surprising. Jiri didn't really want to talk about that though, there were far too many questions to ask.

'So is space… like big?'.

'… really?'

'Well from what you've seen?'

'…'

'So that's a no? Okay, well it's just that I really want to go there, space that is, travel, see the sites, shoot some stuff, there's a world of adventure out there waiting for someone to grab it by the scurf of the neck, and that someone can be me!'

Tyken didn't seem to react to most of what Jiri said, he just kept walking. Jiri begun to feel frustrated by this lack of response. 'You know, this dark brooding thing you've got going? I'm sure it really impresses the chicks, but it's boring the crap out of me, if we are going to travel together you should lighten up a bit or the trip take a lot longer than it really should'.

Tyken turned at this 'I do not wish to travel with you. You are immature and petulant, you will get killed and I do not wish that upon my conscience'. Jiri jaw stiffened, he became infuriated by this 'you know, if I knew what any of that meant I would probably take offence to that'. Jiri threw down his backpack and rifle and stood right up to Tyken. 'You don't want me around because you think I will be dead weight?'. Jiri stared into Tyken's eyes challenging him, daring him to make a move.

Tyken was shocked, he felt the adrenaline pumping through his body in anticipation of a fight. Tyken was quite a bit taller than Jiri, he towered over the youth looking down, expecting the kid to back down. But as he looked down he and locked eyes with his new companion, he could tell that Jiri was not in the least bit scared and would not back down. For a moment, Tyken wasn't even sure if they fought that he would win. The youth was most definitely sure of himself, and could likley handle a fight, but it didn't matter. Jiri's help was only needed to get off the planet. After that, he was free to do what he wanted. He had a life already on this planet, including a family that Tyken was already sick of hearing about. That was a lot more than Tyken had in his life, he could not take that away from someone else.

'I will not kill you, I still require your assistance to escape this planet. But as soon as we have acquired the means to leave, you will to return to your existing life. You have a family, a life on the planet, a future. I have none of those things, and if I were to take those things away from you I don't think that… Tyken's words trailed off… they stuck in his throat and suddenly he couldn't finish the thought. He chose not to, turned away from Jiri and resumed walking.

Jiri called after him, 'Oh right, and just like that you stop talking? I was just thinking you… wait, you hear that?'. Jiri had stopped, he looked skywards, something in the sky again. Jiri focused on his hearing, his expression was blank. Tyken stopped, 'What?'. There was a pause, then Tyken heard it, a whistling noise. Jiri pulled out his binoculars and turned them to the skies, altering the focus to bring the airborne objects into view. Black metallic cylinders, traveling at an extreme speed 'They're… pods of some sort'. Tyken's face darkened, 'Carrying what?'. 'Hard to say, probably not people, moving too fast for that and they are not big enough, but there's a lot of them'. Jiri pulled the binoculars away from his face, only to realize one of the cylinders was coming down on their exact location. 'Oh shi….', Jiri jumped to avoid the incoming pod, Tyken leaped to the other side as the cylinder come crashing down into the ground, the massive impact forcefully pushing the cylinder into the ground. The loud smash of metal hitting the surface rang through the air, the ground shook with the tremor of impact,, dust went everywhere. As the dust begun to settle, Jiri looked over the scene. Both he and Tyken had been thrown aside by the impact, he saw Tyken's light-saber on the ground next to the pod. Tyken was writhing in pain, he must have landed on his injured arm while getting out of the way of the pod. Suddenly, the cylinder clanked with a loud metallic smack that echoed in the air, and released several large black floating droids, six or eight of them. They all surveyed the area, then one approached Jiri before pausing for a moment, floating in front of his face. Jiri looked on in confusion, 'I have a bad feeling about this'. One of the droids approached him, after a slight pause, the droid begun to sound an alarm. The droids sounded in unison 'Subject found: Initiate retrieval protocols: Terminate potential aids'. The droids descended on Tyken, they deployed electro-stun emitters and begun to hit Tyken over and over. Tyken begun flailing and falling backwards, struggling to keep away from the droids, without his weapon and with an injured arm, he could not stop them.

Droids also approached Jiri, pulling out blasters 'Terminate potential aid'. Jiri rolled backwards over his rifle, picking it up as he did so in one swift movement. As soon as he was prone, he snapped off a succession of hip shots, taking out each of the approaching droids, causing a spectacular shower of fire and metal to rain down. He then lined up his sights and shot at one of the droids assaulting Tyken, the explosion sending debris all over the place. Two droids remained, they quickly turned and rushed Jiri. Jiri lined up his sights again and pulled the trigger. The next droid blew up, scattering parts everywhere. He turned his rifle and lined up his sights on the last remaining probe. The droid stopped suddenly, frozen levitating in the air. Jiri kept the probe lined up in his scopes, waiting to see what would happen.

A blue light emanated from the probes eye, a figure in a mask appeared. His voice sounded almost robotic. 'Greetings Jiri', Jiri felt a chill run up his spine. 'Yes, we know who you are. It would seem that you have something that belongs to me'. Jiri narrowed his brow, 'I'm no thief, so I can honestly say that I don't know what you are talking about'. The figure responded 'that man you are with, he belongs to me'. Jiri looked at Tyken, who was only just recovering from the scuffle. The figure continued 'he is worth a great deal to me, I would appreciate your co-operation in returning him. I will ensure you are compensated for your assistance'. Jiri looked at Tyken, then back at the figure 'Your putting a price on a life of another being? I don't think I like you'. The figure begun to laugh at this, Jiri barred his teeth, infuriated, 'did I say something funny?' he barked. The figure paused, then his tone changed to a more sinister one 'My patience is running thin young one, your choice is simple – you bring him to me or I destroy you, I destroy your family, I destroy your town, I destroy everything you have ever -' Jiri opened fire, destroying the droid and the transmission. 'Boring conversation anyway' sided Jiri as he approached Tyken. Jiri again took his medical tool and scanned the wounded arm. 'Well, this must be really painful, and it will now take you a bit longer to fully recover, but you should live'. Tyken looked at Jiri '… thank you' he finally said. 'Yeah, no sweat, now lets get moving, there are more pods so more droids, and this guy knows who I am, and if he's serious about his threats a lot of people are in danger…'. Jiri didn't want to mention that the first on the list of people in danger would be his parents.


	6. Chapter 6 - Fate

Jiri smashed the lock with the butt of his rifle, freeing the chain from the gate it secured. Tyken inquired 'we're stealing a bike?'. Jiri sighed, 'no we are not stealing a bike, I am borrowing a bike. I know these people and if they were home, they would absolutely let me borrow it. But since they are not home, I just have to borrow it by myself'. Tyken paused thoughtfully for a moment, 'I am fairly sure that constitutes theft'. Jiri turned, his face was red and his voice raised 'look, my mum and dad are in danger, everyone I know is in danger, and you lecture me about the technicalities of theft? I don't care, I need to help my parents'. Tyken looked at his arm, recalling the painful electric shocks of the probe droids, he knew there was no way he could have fended them off without Jiri's help, now Jiri's family was in danger and Jiri was still willing to help him. Tyken was snapped out of his thought by Jiri's appearance on a speeder. 'Get on man, we gotta hurry'.

They sped through the barrens, Jiri's hair whipped through the air as the motor strained against the speed. This speeder was an old relic of the fabled battle of Endor, or so Jiri had been told, but it definitely still had some kick left in it. Jiri hoped it would be enough, his parents house loomed within view, they would be there in a few moments.

Suddenly a huge image appeared across the sky. The masked figure appeared in a huge image cast on the darkening heavens. The image begun to rasp with its metallic voice that rang across the horizon, 'I'm disappointed in the both of you, this could have been so much easier for all of us, but you have chosen made things difficult, so in turn pain and suffering will result'. A bright light illuminated the skies, then suddenly a massive laser blast shot down from the heavens and smashed into the house, the fiery cascade demolished the house completely. Jiri's face turned to a surprised look of horror as he watched the house explode, his stomach churned, tears filled his eyes as he screamed 'Mum! Dad!'. Jiri pushed the speeder to it's absolute limit to make it to the fiery remains as fast as he could. He smashed the breaks and the speeder skidded to a halt just off the destroyed house.

Jiri jumped off the bike and ran over to the wreckage, he needed to know if they were in the house, he had to know. Jiri begun to run through flames, his stomach churned and grinded and cramped, he was sweating bullets, his tongue tasted like ashes and the smell. Jiri knew that smell, it was burning flesh, the stink was repulsive, it almost made him sick. He pushed through into where the bedroom should be, were they here? Please don't let them be here Jiri thought as he heaved to lift up a huge part of the collapsed ceiling. And there he saw it, two bodies burning, embracing as they burned. Jiri's mind went blank, he felt numb all over. Everything became small and insignificant as he stumbled out of the burning wreckage. He fell to his knees and vomited. His eyes were red, his skin was blackened and singed, his hands were filthy, and the world felt like it was a million miles away. He was totally numb, he couldn't even think. He came into semi-awareness as he felt Tyken take his shoulder. 'Come. We mustn't linger, if we stay they will kill you and take me, we need to get off the planet'. Jiri couldn't even move, the shock was too much, he knew Tyken was right but his brain simply couldn't tell his body what to do. He just keeled on the spot motionless. Suddenly he felt his collar being grabbed by Tyken, he was lifted into the air. Tyken locked eyes with him 'look, we need to move now! Are you going to get revenge for your parents? Or are you going to keep kneeling on the ground there until you die like a dog?'. Jiri felt the fire ignite in his gut. Yes, revenge is a good reason to continue living he thought. The spark returned to Jiri's eye. Tyken saw this and released Jiri, knowing that the spark meant purpose and this kid fight to his last to see his objective through. Tyken explained 'We need to get off the planet as quickly as possible, we will die if we stay'. Jiri hesitated 'I have a ship… well sort of… '. Tyken knew Jiri well enough now that this did not bode well, 'what do you mean sort of?'. Jiri conceded, 'it's a ship that I've been working on for a while, built it from scratch myself, but I've never flown it before, and its never been to space'. Tyken replied 'It's a chance we take, if we stay here we die'.

They descended into the underground shed. Sunlight was becoming scarce outside which Tyken was thankful for, it would make their escape easier. Jiri pulled the covers off the vessel. Tyken was slightly shocked at what he saw, it looked like a flying tin can. Jiri sided, 'it's a piece of junk right? I don't have access to the parts and equipment I need to make a proper ship, but this thing should fly… should…' Jiri's voice trailed off and a distant look appeared on his face. Tyken needed to keep him focused. 'It's better than no ship, once we break orbit we can hopefully find a better alternative'.

Once the shed door was open, Jiri took hold of the wheel of the ship and directed it skywards. It was a very bumpy take off, Tyken felt a nervous sensation creep up on him, unsure if this ship would be able to survive the vacuum of space. As the ship took towards the sky, more flashes of light appeared, striking houses and lighting them up. Jiri could see his neighbors, his friends, all getting bombarded from orbit. He held the sick feeling to the bottom of his stomach and kept it down with sheer determination; Tyken was right after all, he needed to get revenge, it was a reason to continue. The ship left the atmosphere of the planet and into space. It seemed to be holding up. Jiri remarked to Tyken, 'this ship has no hyper drive, we will not be able to leave this system, where can we go?'. 'Space port Livingstone' replied Tyken, although he was not sure why he said it, it just came out. Jiri's curiosity piqued, 'why there?'. Tyken felt the answer come to him as he said it 'it's a trading hub for this sector, we will surely find people and supplies needed'. Jiri replied 'punch in the co-ordinates and we'll head there', as soon as he had finished the sentence the sickness in his stomach reached to the surface, the numbness returned and the full realization hit Jiri that his whole world had been turned upside-down.


	7. Chapter 7 - Consequence

Cypher's furious scream ran throughout the station, the staff all cowered and ran from it. Even the droids seemed shaken. Cypher paced in front of his assembled search team, he breathed heavily, he wanted to kill them all so badly, these idiots couldn't find a single man with all of the equipment and personal at their disposal. Cypher tried to compose himself, if he started killing random personal it might compound the problem, but how else was he supposed to convince these idiots to do their job properly?

Finally he spoke, his voice dripping with repressed anger, 'it's been three days, and you have yet to give me a single piece of information about where my test subject is… I like to think of myself as a patient man, but you are all testing me… ' he lifted his hand and gestured outwardly, all of the men in the room grabbed their throats, many fell to their knees, some struggled on the ground. After a few moments Cypher released them. As the men caught their breath Cypher's metallic voice sounded, 'find him…. FIND HIM!'. His yell echoed throughout the chambers as the men ran from the room still recovering from the force attack. Cypher was left alone. His urge to kill was still strong, but it was best saved for those who would get in his way, not those who were trying to help him.

His thoughts were interrupted by a lone trooper who approached him cautiously. 'Master Cypher sir, Master Kinshoo is demanding to speak with you'. Cypher nodded, 'very well, I shall take it in my quarters'.

Cypher entered his room, it was mostly barren of possessions, save for one wall that had many light-sabers adorned on it. Cypher approached a console in the corner of the room, the screen illuminated and a figure was brought to life. Kinshoo was a hutt, a giant fat creature not unlike a slug only much larger. His giant fat face and mouth obscured most of the screen. Kinshoo took a deep breath from a repository mask, the giant intake of green gasses made a low hissing noise and a deep breathing could be heard coming from the giant creatures lungs. Kinshoo took the mask away from his face and looked hard at Cypher. He begun to speak in his foul alien dialect, 'report'. Cypher answered immediately, 'master, the test subject appears to have been a success, we believe he will allow us to continue to our next phase. But…' Cypher hesitated for a moment, nervous tension held his voice while Kinshoo stared at him expectantly. 'But during the final phase of testing to ensure the subject could handle the necessary dosages we were wanting, he escaped. We are in the process of tracking his whereabouts now'. Kinshoo stared at Cypher for a few moments, his breathing audible and his form moving all over. 'You do not know where he is?' Kinshoo finally asked. 'As I said master' Cypher was almost scrambling for the words 'we are tracking his whereabouts'.

Kinshoo took another breath from the hideous mask, the green gasses passing into his system with a hiss. Kinshoo spoke 'I do not need to remind you what is at stake, nor do I need remind you of the resources you have been given to achieve your goals…' Kinshoo leaned forward, his voice almost a whisper 'and I especially do not need to remind you of what happens if you fail…'. Cypher did his best to keep his composure 'He will be found master, I will bring him in myself if I have to'. Kinshoo looked at Cypher for a few moments before replying 'next time we speak you will tell me something I want to hear', Kinshoo grunted as he terminated the call.

Cypher clenched his fist angrily as one of his troopers entered the room. 'Master, we have a lead'. Cypher looked up, 'speak'. 'It's possible that they have left the planet'. Cypher felt his frustration grow, he reminded the trooper, 'We control all the shipments to and from the planet, they do not have any ships to leave the planet with'. The trooper continued 'We have found a shed that could have functioned as a makeshift hanger, tools and equipment suggests that anti-mag thrusters were being worked on. It's possible they escaped the planet in an improvised space craft'. Before Cypher could react the trooper continued to speak, 'the good news master, is that it's highly unlikely that they are in possession of a hyper drive, there's no way they had resources to fabricate one themselves'.

Cypher's response was swift, 'put the order out, extend the search to every planet and space station in the sector, anywhere that they could reach without a hyper-drive. As soon as you have located them contact me immediately'.


	8. Chapter 8 - The World Anew

'We are almost there, a few more hours perhaps' Tyken said, looking over at his companion. Jiri didn't move or react, he had hardly spoken the entire time they were in the ship. He was doing what he had spent most of his time on the ship doing, staring out the window. Other time's he would be in the bathroom.

Tyken could often hear soft sobbing and cursing being muttered. Yesterday Jiri let loose a flurry of swear words shouted from in the bathroom aimed at no one in particular. Tyken could hear Jiri's throat go coarse and weakened such was it's intensity.

Tyken was running the events over in his head, their escape, the fighting, the bombardment of Jiri's home and family. The more he thought about it, the greater the feeling of guilt that gnawed at Tyken's stomach. He bit his lip, he was responsible for Jiri's loss, and Jiri's uncharacteristic silence seemed to compound the problem, The kid always seemed to speak his mind, yet it had been an almost silent trip. Tyken wanted to talk about it to hopefully clear the air, but was unsure how to broach the matter. He had to fight hard against the pressing feeling in his stomach and use the direct approach he decided.

'Listen Jiri', Tyken's voice was laced with regret as Jiri stared out the window. 'Your family, your town, had I not landed on your planet you would still have them. I just wanted to say that for my part in all of this, I am sorry. I hope that is of some conciliation to you'.

There was a long silence. Tyken wasn't sure if Jiri had heard him or not. Then Jiri turned to face Tyken, his eyes were red, tears were running down his cheeks. When he spoke his voice was full of sorrow, 'I don't blame you, I chose to help you. It's not your fault'. Then Jiri's face turned into a maddening scowl, his voice echoed with rage 'but that masked son of a bitch is a dead man, I don't care how far across the galaxy I need to go, where I have to travel, what I need to do to achieve my end, I will kill that man if it's the last thing I do'. Tyken met Jiri's eyes, they locked for a moment. Tyken looked as his companions determined look for a moment, before it begun to slowly melt into a look of mourning. Jiri's bottom lip begun to tremble, tears begun welling up in his eyes, he turned his head to resume his stare out the window.

They were nearing the station when Jiri spoke, it was the first time Jiri had initiated a conversation in some time, 'so we are looking for a ship to travel in'. 'Yes' replied Tyken, 'however we are able, our highest chance for success is to pay for passage and to remain as inconspicuous as possible. The last thing we want is to draw attention to ourselves, it's possible they will be looking for us here. We should keep a low profile, get in and out as quickly as is possible'. Tyken donned a Robe, Jiri had seen similar robes worn by Jedi in his books. Tyken drew the hood over his head and turned to the door.

They docked at the station hanger, with the many other ships that had business at the station. The station itself was huge, a giant cylinder shape, and the species of aliens here were diverse and colorful.

Jiri stepped off the ship his mind was taken away as he saw some of the strangest looking aliens he had ever seen. He looked on in awe, people moving things, trading, refueling ships, it was like a thriving organism. Jiri felt a push from behind as he was bumped by a large alien with a strange shaped head who was carrying a large box with a human. The alien muffled noise that Jiri didn't understand. Jiri stood there stunned before the human translated, 'he said move it kid'. Jiri stepped to the side as the pair moved on by with their goods.

Jiri was amazed, he'd never been off his planet before, and here was what he always wanted to experience, this is what he wanted to see, a thriving market of people, goods, trade and money. He took in all he could before he heard Tyken's voice beckoning him 'we must continue, low profile. Come'.

Jiri followed Tyken through some narrow corridors, pipes were all over the ceilings and walls. Condensation was dripping from all over the place. Eventually they arrived to a canteena, and given it's location is was a dive. Tyken entered followed closely by Jiri. Jiri could hear the lively music playing, travelers from all parts of the galaxy had come here it seemed for some reprieve from the long space road, a point to relax, or perhaps find employment, or a target...Again Jiri was awestruck, this really felt like his kind of scene for some reason. He looked around at the faces, the cheery laughter of friends, the darkened faces of people trying to make shady deals, the singing and playful music of the canteena band, the food… Jiri saw a plate of something that looked like a live animal get served up to a rather large alien. The alien put the whole animal in his mouth and in one disgusting gulp ate the whole slimy thing. Jiri decided that he might not look at the menu at this place. Tyken appeared in front of Jiri, his voice was barely audible against the background noise, 'I believe that I may have found us some transportation, follow'. Jiri nodded, he followed Tyken with a strange feeling of apprehension and excitement.


	9. Chapter 9 - Crisis and Opportunity

Tyken led them through the crowd to a table in a darkened corner, there sat a rather large fury alien that Jiri had never seen before. It looked rather fearsome and Jiri couldn't help but stare. Suddenly the alien roared at him and Jiri jumped back. 'Whats the matter? Never seen a wookie before?', the voice came from beside the wookie, a very attractive girl. She was gorgeous, long blonde hair tied in a pony tail, thick lips, and a very attractive figure. Jiri couldn't remember the last time he saw a woman who was this pretty, when suddenly he was hit with a wave of anxiety, he could sense he was blushing 'err… hi' Jiri managed to stutter out. The girl looked at Jiri, then at Tyken 'He's with you? The kid is green, a liability'. Tyken spoke 'Indeed he is with me, but please, understand that we are not interested in drawing attention to ourselves, so if you would please let us get to business'. Jiri took a seat, he was entranced, he had to snap himself out of it quick so he could follow the conversation.

The girl spoke 'hey, look we'd love to help out from the goodness of our heart, we really would. But unfortunately for you guys the goodness in our hearts has all but spent by the universe at large, so Roruk and I need something a little more… money, payment, upfront'.

Tyken replied 'neither of us have credits on our person, we will give payment once we reach our destination'.

'Your destination right… where was that again?'

'Planet Spirious'

Jiri's eyebrows raised at this, they had not discussed where they were going after reaching space port Livingstone. Why does Tyken want to go there?

The girl spoke again, 'Do you take me for an idiot? Planet Spirios is a wasteland, would you have me believe that you have money buried there or something?'

Tyken replied 'You will have to trust us'

'Trust is for fools and dead people, since I am neither of those things you will simply have to find yourself another sucker, Roruk and I have bigger fish to fry, and flying people around the galaxy for charity isn't part of what we do'

Jiri's curiosity piqued 'so what do you do?'.

The whole table looked at him disbelievingly. The girl faced Tyken again, 'you hear what that kid of yours just asked me? He's going to get you killed, you'd be better off ditching him'.

Jiri glanced over at Tyken and caught his reaction, his face hung low, swallowed with remorse. 'I owe him my life, and… so much more. I cannot abandon him'.

Jiri noticed Tyken's expression change to a more serious one. He saw Tyken locking eyes with the woman, he leaned forward keeping his eye contact, he begun to speak slowly, gesturing with his hand as he did so 'you will take us to planet Spirios'. The girl stared at Tyken for a few moments, she didn't move. Without warning, she pulled her pistol out as her wookie companion did the same, Suddenly Tyken and Jiri were looking down the barrel of a pistol and bow-caster.

'Did… did you just try to Jedi mind trick me? That… felt weird' she raised the pistol towards Tyken's head, her face had a deathly serious look on it. 'I've shot people for less than that', Jiri gulped, being shot dead in a dive at a backwater spaceport was not how he saw himself getting killed, and he was sure that he and his partner were dead, but before anyone could react further, they were interrupted by a bellowing voice.

'Everyone, your attention please!' a massive fat human climbed on top of a table as his voice boomed across the canteena, silencing everyone. 'We do not wish to take up too much of your time', Jiri noticed as he said this that there were troopers gathering behind the man, scanning the bar's patrons. 'We have been told that a pair of fugitives that arrived at this space port recently had been seen here, give yourselves up now and come quietly and no one will be harmed'. Jiri sunk into his seat, hoping to not be seen. Tyken pulled his robe over his head.

Suddenly the mans huge fat fist pointed towards their table – 'A ha! There you both are!'. Jiri felt his heart sink, there were too many of them to take on, they had been caught. But before he could react, the female stood, the wookie did the same, 'Hi Greggus, you finally caught up with us huh? How's the wife and kids?'.

The man boomed back 'Plex and Roruk! The price I will get for you two will be massive! You have a death sentence on eleven systems!'

Plex retorted 'twelve actually. Counting never was your best skill, so how can you be so sure that the reward will be massive if you can't count that high?'.

Greggus bellowed back 'this is one fight your sharp tongue isn't going to get you out of! Boys, get em!'

As the troopers opened fire with laser rifles, the bars patrons begun to scatter, running in all directions. Roruk flipped the table they were on to create some cover as Plex leaped behind it. Jiri wanted to put as much distance between himself and this fight as possible so jumped into an adjacent booth, Tyken followed closely, vaulting over the leather seats.

They watched as the pair were pinned under heavy laser fire, Jiri knew it was only a matter of time before they were flanked, he thought quickly, and realized that this was something they could take advantage of. He called out 'if you want our help fighting these guys, agree to take us to the planet'. 'What?' the girl called out in disbelief, 'your kidding me! there's no way I'm giving you a ride for free!'. A laser ricochet hit the table right near her head, causing her to flinch. She tried to get up to return fire, but there was too much incoming laser fire. Roruk was also pinned, he roared in anger.

'It isn't free, your hiring us as muscle, in return you take us to the planet as payment, sounds like a fair trade to me' Jiri added, 'of course you could die here in this canteena and we could find another ride'.

Plex looked angrily towards Jiri, but the angry expression turned to a defeated one as she realized that she had little choice. She conceded 'fine, your hired, now make yourselves useful and get some of this fire off us'.

Jiri snapped a clip into his rifle as Tyken took the light-saber from his belt. Jiri remarked 'I hope you know how to use that thing dude'. Tyken replied 'I shall rush directly at their flank, this will draw a lot of their fire, provide cover for me'. Without waiting for a response, Tyken rushed from his cover spot and drew his light-saber, running at the troopers flank with blinding speed. The troopers were startled, but quickly turned to fire at the rapidly incoming Tyken. Jiri emerged from his cover and set his rifle up on the seat in front of him, sights lined up on the nearest target. He opened fire, the trooper was flung backwards as the explosive shot hit him square in the chest. Plex and Roruk were quick to notice the suppressing fire subside, they emerged from their cover and begun to open fire. Plex's initial shot hitting one of the troopers directly in the head, he toppled to the floor instantly. Greggus anger turned to confusion, he begun to sweat and his shouting became desperate, 'kill them! Kill them all!' as he pulled out a laser pistol of his own and fired. Jiri was struck in the arm by one of these shots, 'ahh!' he shouted as the sting of pain jolted him, it burned like fire, his face wrenched into a grimace of agony. He tried to pick up his gun, but he couldn't, his arm was useless for the moment, only his left hand, his weak hand, was available. If he had a pistol he might be able to continue the fight, but his rifle was too large to handle with one arm.

Tyken reached the first trooper, light-saber drawn, it flashed through the air and through the chest of the trooper, cutting him down as his body fell lifelessly to the ground. Greggus's voice boomed through the air again 'A light-saber! Kill this guy now! Get the girl, stop being so damn useless you scum!'. Perhaps out of fear of their boss, several of the troopers rushed to the position of Plex and Roruk, guns firing all the while. Plex and Roruk kept their heads down to avoid the fire, but then the troopers were on them, they jumped the table and started throwing punches and kicks. Jiri quickly jumped his seat to join the melee. Bodies smashed together as a flurry of kicks and punches flew in all directions, it was difficult to tell who was striking who. Suddenly with a mighty roar, Roruk burst forth with his wookie strength and sent troopers flying into tables and walls.

Plex recovered quickly, clearly this wasn't the first time she and her companion had been in a fist fight. She saw Tyken strike down another trooper with a skillful swing of his light-saber but a trooper was poised to shoot him in the back. She didn't hesitate, her pistol shot was fast and accurate, the trooper fell to the floor. That was the last of them, they had all been taken out, aside from Greggus himself. Greggus turned white, he stumbled as he ran for the doorway out of the canteena. Just as he neared the door it swung closed in his face. Greggus turned to see Tyken's outstretched hand using his force abilities.

Plex and Roruk strided towards Greggus, Roruk grabbed him by the throat, lifting him high into the air against the closed door. Jiri was totally amazed by this, he had heard about the strength of wookies, but this Greggus was a very fat man, and Roruk seemed to have no problems lifting him. Plex begun to speak, 'this just isn't your day is it Greggus?'. She begun to rifle through the fat man's pockets, she took her hand out with a fat wad of credits. 'Knock him out Roruk, and seriously Greggus, if we catch you trying to collect our bounty again I'll let Roruk rip your arms off, it's been a while for him and he's dying to do it to someone'. Roruk took away one of his hands, wound up and delivered a punch that landed so hard that it sent Greggus flying through the door, shattering it into splinters and sending the big man crashing to the ground. He skidded across the smooth ground for a few feet before coming to a stop.

Plex smiled 'Nice punch! I guess all that practice paid off huh?', Roruk gave a friendly growl. At least it seemed friendly to Jiri, he couldn't understand the wookie, but Plex and Roruk seemed to be able to read each other so well, it was almost uncanny.

Suddenly alarms sounded, lights were flashing and an announcer begun to speak over the system, 'attention residents of Livingston station, a fight has broken out at the station canteena, several known fugitives are there and must be brought forth before station security, if you encounter these individuals you are to bar their way or terminate them if necessary, repeat, attention residents-'.

Plex looked around confused, 'Oh this isn't good, what is going on? It was a bar fight, it happens here all the time! This is more heat than we…' she stopped mid sentence and looked at Jiri and Tyken, realization seemed to dawn on her face, 'so you don't want to draw attention to yourselves huh?'.

Jiri stepped forward, 'your ship, we need to get to it as fast as possible, the longer we wait, the harder it will be to get off the station'.

Plex hesitated, it seemed she was considering if she should take her two new acquaintances with her or not. She suddenly called out 'Follow me' as she bolted down the corridor. Jiri and Tyken followed as best as they could, but this girl was fast, Jiri wasn't sure he'd be able to keep this kind of pace going for very long. Fortunately for him, they reached the hanger that housed her ship. It wasn't a very impressive ship to Jiri It looked like a cargo freighter of some kind, but if it had a hyper-drive it was better than what they had before.

Plex rushed onto the ship calling behind her as she climbed the ramp, 'Roruk, prep hyper-drive, you two get on board and grab onto something, I might need to get creative here'. Jiri, Tyken and Roruk followed Plex up the ramp as troopers and security staff begun to fill the hanger. The PA system flooded the hanger with noise, 'Stand down immediately, you do not have clearance for take off – we will open fire if you do not comply, stand down!'.

The hanger doors begun to close as Plex jumped into the drivers seat, she grabbed the coms of the ship to send a message to the passengers 'hold on folks, this is going to be a very quick take off'. The ships entry ramp hadn't even finished closing before the ship took to the air. As soon as the helm of the ship lined up with the exit, Plex hit full impulse, the sudden speed pushing her back into her seat. The ship flew towards the rapidly closing hanger doors, were they going to make it? The ship just made it out before the hanger door fully closed, the back of the ship skimming the door on the way out. Plex heard and roar over the coms, her co-pilot had made the adjustments for hyper-drive. 'Thanks Roruk, we're punching it now ladies, hold onto something!'.

Plex pushed a lever, the stars on the windshield became streaks in the sky, and the ship's almost instantaneous boost of speed sending it far and away into space, beyond the reach of all. For the moment...


	10. Chapter 10 - Traverse

The ship jumped out of hyperspace. The ship slowing to impulse so suddenly jolted all of the passengers. Plex recovered and quickly adjusted the ship into automation, she needed to be fast so she could get to the bottom of what the hell just happened. She bolted down a corridor to where Roruk was already roaring at their new guests threateningly. Jiri and Tyken were backing away from the wookie, trying to calm him to no avail. Tyken asked 'Do you understand what this beast is trying to communicate?' Jiri retorted, 'no, I don't speak furball'. More angry roars came from Roruk as Plex took his side, 'he wants to know the same thing I do, what was that all about back there'. Jiri replied, 'what do you mean back there?'. Plex's tone became more hostile, 'what I mean is that we get into fights at that station regularly, but the response we got then?'. She paused briefly before shooting a look to Tyken 'and one of you has a light saber as well as force abilities. You two are hiding something, whatever it is, you come clean now or so help me I will send you out the airlock'. Jiri noticed that her hand was discreetly hovering over the grip of her holstered pistol, they needed to be careful of the words they used here.

Tyken answered after a thoughtful pause, 'I… I believe myself to be a scientific experiment. They seem to refer to me as property rather than a person. I know nothing of myself, not where I get my force powers, not my past, I know nothing of myself. I escaped my captivity from the space port and have been by someone of great influence and power ever since. What their purpose is with me I also do not know'. Plex stared at Tyken briefly, it seemed that she wasn't sure if this was true or not.

Plex raised her eyebrow, 'Space port?'. Jiri answered this, 'from the story it might be a place called station omega, hard to say though, that place is as vague as Tyken's story'.

Plex replied 'I've heard of the station before, a lot of travelers think it's haunted. Idiot space superstition is all it is'.

She shot a look towards Jiri, 'so what does that make you? His padwan?'. Jiri shrugged his shoulders, 'I guess you could call me a tragic victim of circumstance', as soon as the words left his mouth it cut into him deeply. The stark reminder of his dead parents, he could feel the wave of guilt, sadness and anger pour over himself, it seemed attempting to play it off as a joke wasn't such a great idea. Plex seemed to notice the pain he felt however, and her hand left the vicinity of her pistol.

She continued to probe 'okay, why Spirious then? Why travel to a wasteland planet? There's nothing there'. Jiri pushed back his remorse as Plex asked this, he was just as interested in what the answer would be.

Tyken responded, 'there are not many things I remember about what was done to me at the space port, but guards and staff talked about receiving some kind of deliveries from there. I also… feel connected to the place somehow… I am looking for answers, Spirious has them – I know it does'.

Plex crossed her arms, skepticism was all over her face, 'you feel like going there? That's a terrible reason to go to a planet with nothing. Why can't you feel like going to a beach planet? I could use a holiday'. Jiri grinned at this, she had spunk he had to give her that.

Jiri stepped forward as he spoke, 'well that's where we're going, as payment for helping you out of that fight back there'. An annoyed expression appeared on Plex's face 'oh sure, Roruk and I probably won't be able to go back to Livingston after what happened there, what a great deal we made!'. She then conceded, 'but a deal is a deal, we will take you to your dead planet – I hope for your sake that you find whatever it is that your looking for there'.


	11. Chapter 11 - Pursuit

The administration office overlooked the hanger room of Livingston station. Greggus was nursing his bloody nose, it was surely broken. He'd need a medi-droid to look at it, but there was no way he was going to pay for it. Waiting for the administrator of the station was tiresome, he had the feeling this was being done on purpose just to annoy him and remind him of his place. Finally the administrator came into the room. His nose held aloft in the air, he really did think himself above everyone else. 'So Greggus, it seems you got into another scuffle' he said in a condescending tone as he pulled a pen from his pocket and begun to fill out some paperwork. Greggus answered, 'that wookie, I hate wookies, next time I meet him I'll rip HIS arms off!'. The administrator was silent, apparently ignoring Greggus as he continued to fill out the paperwork. He finished and handed Greggus the form, 'the requisition order for a medi-droid, fill it out and we will process it, evaluate it, then determine if the medical treatment will be forthcoming'. Greggus had a short temper and no reason to hold it back, 'get a freaking bot in here now to look at me you pompous twit!'. The administrator sneered gleefully, 'you can always pay for the service Greggus, a medi-droid will be with you as soon as you do'. Greggus was about to let loose with a flurry of swear words and shouting when a message come in over the inter-com.

'Administrator, he's here'.

The administrator paused for a moment, glancing at Greggus then back at the intercom, 'who's here?.

'That Cypher guy'.

The administrators face turned white. He slammed his desk, picked his coat from the back of his seat and ran out of the room. Greggus was left confused, 'hey! My nose! Get back here with a droid or I'll ring your freaking pencil neck!', Greggus shouted, following the administrator out of the office.

The administrator ran down into the hanger, quickly fixing up his coat, his hair, everything he could do to make himself look as presentable as possible. Greggus came from behind still nursing his nose, still shouting.

Greggus became silent as the small ship pulled up into the hanger, lowering slowly to the ground and deploying it's walkway. It's passenger walked down to the hanger. The administrator quickly begun to speak in a grovelling tone, 'Master Cypher, how unexpected a visit, we were not expecting you to personally ar- ', he was cut off by Cypher.

His sharp metallic voice was curt as he looked the administrator directly in the face.

'Where are they?'.

The administrator begun to stumble for his words, 'well, they… there was a… well a fight in the canteena, many witness-'.

Cypher stepped forward, towering over the much shorter administrator, looking downwards through his mask. '

'Where are they?'.

The administrator begun opening his mouth, but no words came out, he was terrified.

'I can tell you', Greggus chimed in.

The administrator was relieved that the attention was off him, but simultaneously terrified at what Greggus would say.

Cypher turned immediately to the fat man with the bloody nose. 'Speak'.

Greggus grinned, 'I am a man of business, my tongue works just like I do, for money'.

Cypher approached Greggus, 'You will be compensated for information you provide, but do not test my patience. Where are they?'.

Greggus explained, 'like that weasel just told you, there was a fight at the canteena, you may be able to tell from my face that I almost won'.

Greggus panicked when he saw that this Cypher begun to reach into his robe, likely for a weapon.

He quickly continued, 'well they left in a ship, an old retrofitted cargo freighter called the Ninbus – I don't know where they went, but they were at a table at the station canteena'.

Greggus leaned in, 'they don't know that I know, but all of the tables in that canteena? The conversations are recorded. I'm sure with a little… persuasion… they will let you see what it is you are after'.

Cypher gave Greggus a hard look before responding 'take me to this canteena'.

Greggus let Cypher through the doors of the canteena. It seemed that business was back to normal at the bar, like nothing had happened. As soon as Cypher entered, some of the patrons begun to stare at him. As they moved to the bar the sounds begun to die out more and more, more than half the bars patrons had their eyes fixed on the masked figure. Cypher reached the bar and the bartender greeted him. 'ey there gov, you fancy a drink there? Might be a bit hard to down it with that mask on eh?', the bartender begun to laugh at his own joke.

Cypher was direct, 'show me the recording made from the table that started the altercation earlier'.

The bartender was stunned, how did he know? And what made him think that they would be shown to just anyone? The bartender gathered himself and responded, 'look ere, something like that wouldn't be proper like, and it wouldn't be proper like for me to just show everyone would it?'.

Cypher looked hard at the bartender for a moment, he could probably threaten his way to what he wanted, but decided against it out of boredom, there's only so many times you can threaten to kill people before it became tired. Cypher spoke loudly and clearly to avoid having to repeat himself, 'I work for Kinshoo the hutt, I speak with his authority'.

The entire canteena fell silent. Several patrons left. Everyone knew who Kinshoo the hutt was, he was practically the law in this part of space, and everyone knew what happened to those who crossed him. The bartender begun to stutter, '… right you are then mate… umm… come'. He led them towards a backroom to a monitor. After shuffling briefly through some files, he pulled one out and slotted it into the screen and it came to life, showing four figures sitting at a table.

Conversation went on until they reached the girl asking…

'Your destination right… where was that again?'

The figure with the robe answered,

'Planet Spirious'

Cypher clenched his fist. 'Spirios' he repeated, his voice had a tinge of anger in it.

He turned, as he did so he pushed a fist-full of credits into Greggus's hand before continuing on.

Greggus smiled broadly and hugged the money, 'don't worry, I'll give you a good home!' he said to his new favourite thing in the world.

Cypher pressed onward back into the hanger and onto his ship. That annoyance of an administrator was saying something to him as he climbed aboard his ship. The little man had no idea how close he was to getting stabbed with a light-saber.

Cypher fired up his holo-communicator, Kinshoo appeared.

'Maser, I have their next destination, I should find them there – they will be no match for me. Our experiment will be returned to us'. Kinshoo paused to take a deep breath from his breathing mask, the green gasses passing through with a soft hiss. 'See that you make it happen, also, I have read the file on his companion… is this true?'.

Cypher did not like where this was going.

'Yes master, we are sure of his identity and of his lineage'. Kinshoo smiled broadly. Cypher had seen this smile enough times to know it was the hutt seeing opportunity. 'You will bring him back to me as well – I have plans for one of his skill'. Cypher begrudgingly agreed 'yes master – I shall bring back the experiment and the child'. The holo-call was terminated. Cypher sat motionless for a moment, his frustration was hard to hold in. But he could do it, after all, the hutt had no idea of the true power that could be attained with the experiments successful return. Cypher grinned to himself as he took the ship out of the hanger and towards planet Spirios.


	12. Chapter 12 - Confide

Jiri did not want to be coddled. 'Look, the arm is fine' he protested, 'you don't need to do this'. Plex continued to wrap the wound, she answered Jiri's protests in a tone laced with ridicule, 'I know I don't have to, and honestly I probably shouldn't, your the worst merc I ever hired, I had to save you and everything'.

Jiri bawked in disbelief, 'You save me? Right, the way I remember it, I saved you. Those guys coming to kill you, remember that?'.

Plex glanced at Jiri and smiled slightly, Jiri noticed that she did this when she felt she had a good answer for something. 'Yeah I remember, I remember you getting yourself shot in the arm as soon as the fight started, you were lucky we were there'. Jiri realised this might not be an argument he could win nor lose, neither would admit to being saved by the other. It was a matter of pride for both of them.

She finished triage on the wound, 'there we are, good as new! With the nano-healing bots you should be back to reasonable use within an hour or so!'. She slapped Jiri hard on the shoulder. 'Ow!' cried Jiri as he slumped back into his seat, clutching his shoulder in pain. The instant rage he felt subsided quite quickly, and he couldn't help but smile, he remembered he had done the exact same thing to Tyken when his arm was hurt. 'Hm… Karma' he said aloud. Plex was putting away medical supplies and bandages as she answered, 'Your welcome, and it's Plex by the way, not Karma'. Jiri laughed hartily at this, it felt good, really good. He felt the warmth inside, the joy of release that laughter brings. He realised it was the first time he had really laughed since…

Plex finished putting medical supplies away, she leaned against the counter and turned her body to Jiri. She noticed the sober turn in Jiri's face, she could see that he had some kind of pain, maybe he was running from something? She thought it best to take his mind off whatever it was on.

'You know your a terrible shot?', she teased.

Jiri looked up with a grin, 'you have no idea how good a shot I am, natural hunter, always have been'.

Plex feigned that she was impressed by this, 'oh so your a big time hunter in the wilds, firing your gun at animals right? I'm impressed'. Then she leaned in to deliver her riposte, 'How many times do they fire back?'

Jiri got defensive was she mocking him? He felt like he was being mocked. 'Not much' he answered after contemplating where she could be going with this.

Plex left her spot against the bench and begun to slowly pace towards Jiri, 'being able to shoot while being shot at, knowing when there is a gap in fire, learning the patterns of fire and detecting an attack opportunity, firing an accurate snap shot in only a moment. Trust me, hunting animals is nothing compared to hunting people'.

Jiri felt himself in the grip of curiosity again, 'so that's what you do? Hunt people?'.

Plex crossed her arms defensively, apparently she didn't want to talk about her work. 'You are not a fast learner are you? You haven't learned to not to ask shady characters about their work?'.

She sighed loudly, Jiri sensed this was a prelude to her giving in. 'I guess it doesn't matter if I tell you, your not a fed and you are clearly new to all of this, if someone doesn't help you learn you'll get killed in no time flat'. As she begun to give her story, she pulled her pistol out and begun to clean it. 'Roruk and I met many years ago when I was a little girl. I don't think we could have met under worse circumstances honestly. I was an orphan, and I was sold into slavery, brought by bandits. I don't want to think about what might have happened if not for Roruk. I don't know how they caught him, but they caged him and were going to transport him off world for whatever. He broke out because… well he's a wookie, you've seen what he can do'.

Jiri remembered Roruk lifting Greggus effortlessly off the ground, he made a mental note not to make the wookie angry.

Plex continued her story, 'well as Roruk got out of his cage, he passed my cage and saw me sitting alone'. Plex's face became wistful of the happy memory, 'He smashed the door to my cage down and carried me out, we escaped in a ship. Roruk has become my family and we've been traveling together ever since'.

Jiri felt heartbroken by the tragedy of the story, but at the same time entranced by the image of life on the road . It was always a dream he would indulge in back on his home planet, now he had met someone living the life he wanted for himself. 'and now you live in space with a wookie hunting people?'.

'We not just bounty hunters, we do all sorts of things, some legal, some in the grey area, and some things that are totally illegal. Getting by is the name of the game, and we haven't lost it yet'.

She became lost in thought for a moment, was there something she was hiding? But then she flashed a smile towards Jiri, 'well I'd better teach you how to shoot properly'. She enthusiastically grabbed Jiri's good arm and pulled him from his seat.

'Um… I already know how to shoot'.

'Yeah, animals, we already established that. Plus that rifle? That thing is too big and cumbersome, not only can you not conceal it, you only have one arm at the moment. No way you could use that thing with one hand'. Jiri knew that this was all correct, his pistol experience was limited, and the rifle was useless with only one arm. The hesitation was all the confirmation Plex needed to continue her lesson.

'Okay, so make sure you turn your body slightly, like that', she grabbed Jiri's waist and pushed him into position. 'Okay, and make sure when your aiming', she handed Jiri the pistol and ran her arm along the outside of Jiri's guiding it towards an imaginary target. She contained her explanation, 'normally your other arm would be used to stabilize the gun, but with one hand, grip here and push downwards slightly', Jiri followed the directions, but couldn't help but notice her breath on the back of his neck, the smoothness of her skin, the seduction of her voice. He was really mesmerized. 'aaand pow!' she pulled Jiri's arm back, simulating the recoil, 'your target is now toast'. Jiri turned his head to look at Plex's face. There was a moment where the pair locked eye's, in this moment Jiri realized this was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, her petite features, her eyes that sung songs his ears could never hear, he was completely captivated.

Suddenly Tyken's voice came in over the speakers, 'we are nearing our destination, please be ready for our departure'. Jiri was snapped out of his trance, he looked over at Plex who was fidgeting nervously with her clothes. 'Okay, your getting near to your stop, get your stuff ready', she seemed slightly flustered. Jiri asked, 'your… not coming then?'.

'Nope, me and Roruk will stick with the ship, got nothing on this planet I care to see'. She looked at Jiri with what seemed like concern, 'just be careful of yourself alright?'.

Jiri looked back quizzically, 'hm… you care about me?' he teased.

Plex gave her answer, 'I care about my reputation as a teacher, if you died if would reflect badly on me having tried to teach you how to not die'.

'Gee, thanks', Jiri joked as he left the room to make his final preparations. But his mind was quickly brought back at the moment he shared with Plex. Could it really be mutual? Did he have a shot? He tried to remind himself to stay focused on their task, but it kept coming back to him.

He met with Tyken in one of the ships crew decks. Tyken asked, 'she said she was going to see to your wound and show you some things. Did she?'. Jiri smiled, 'Yes… yes she did'.


	13. Chapter 13 - The Shroud

The ship hissed loudly as it touched down on the surface of the barren planet. Darkness was everywhere, the rocky landscape cast shadows as far as the eye could see. The landscape was devoid of life, it was just as Plex had described it, a dead planet. Jiri thought this. The ship came to a halt, the bump causing the crew to lurch forward.

Plex flipped switches as she spoke to Jiri, 'make sure you get the okay from the locals before we can take off again'.

Jiri raised his eyebrows, 'What makes you think there are people here?'.

Plex turned from her seat, 'this planet is a fortress, there are ani-ship batteries all over the place. They are well concealed, so I only saw them as we got really close. Have a look over there'. She pointed out the front windshield towards a nearby rock formation. Jiri focused on the location, and sure enough there was the an anti-ship battery buried within the landscape, the bolts, the smooth metal, the ground was even scarred from previous shots fired. They hand landed so close, there was no doubt it would have been a guaranteed hit if someone decided to fire at them from that range. Plex continued, 'If someone manning that thing saw us coming they could have shot us down very easily. I don't think I'll be comfortable leaving until we find out if someone has their finger on the trigger or not'. Jiri was slightly relieved to hear this, although he would never admit it, the possibility of Plex leaving without them was on his mind when she stated she was staying with the ship.

'Alright, we'll find out who, if anyone, is behind the turret and make sure they are okay with us leaving' Jiri said as he slung his rifle over his shoulder. Plex asked, 'hows the arm?'. Jiri rolled his shoulder in it's joint, it felt slightly stiff, but the arm was definitely usable again. Plex had quite the healing touch. 'Better, thanks' he replied. Plex stood up and pulled a pistol from her belt. She walked right up to Jiri, and put the weapon in his hand. He felt the grip of the pistol and the smooth metal, he couldn't help but notice one side of the pistol was warmer than the other, the side that had been against her body. She added, 'Take this just in case. You need a sidearm, that portable cannon is too cumbersome in close up fights'. Jiri looked at the gun in his hand, 'a gift?'. Plex shook her head, 'a loan, I expect it back'. Jiri felt relief at this, not only was he reassured that Plex wouldn't try to leave, but he was also reassured that she did actually care about him. Well at least she cared about him not dying at any rate. 'Thanks', Jiri added, then with concern in his voice, 'let's hope I don't need it'.

The ships walkway lowered as Jiri and Tyken stepped down towards the dead landscape. Jiri peered at his companion, he could tell that Tyken looked nervous, he was fidgeting and looking around a lot. His feeling of unease transferred towards Jiri. 'Everything alright man?' he asked, his voice genuine with concern. Tyken paused for a beat, '… I have an unsure feeling about something, but I am unable to ascertain what it is'. Jiri begun to look around, he wasn't sure what Tyken might be referring to. But the dangerous terrain they were surrounded by gave way to a certain paranoia. He begun to look around, all while attempting to hide his apprehension. He gripped his rifle tightly, ready to shoot at any moment.

Suddenly Tyken grabbed Jiri's shoulder, staring at a rock formation. Jiri brought his rifle to a firing position as he looked towards the rock formation. He couldn't see anything resembling a threat however, it was unsure what Tyken was hesitating for. Tyken called out, 'hello? Is someone there? Please, we do not mean any harm'.

A shadow begun to move from behind the rocks. As the shadow moved towards them it became a figure. A small figure, it was hunched over, hobbling towards them. As the distance became shorter, Jiri could see that it was a small alien in a purple robe. 'Greetings travelers' a voice from the figure, a clear crisp voice, almost like music. 'Why have you come to visit our humble planet? We do not often get visitors'.

'I…', Tyken's words trailed off, he was unsure how to answer the question. 'I am looking for answers'. The figure looked up, showing his alien face, although Jiri wasn't sure from what race he was, he had strange glowing eyes, but most of his other features were cloaked in blackness. The small alien responded, 'aah answers. We all are looking for answers in one form or another, we just need to ensure that we ask the correct questions, don't we?'.

Tyken was taken aback, unsure what this cryptic reply might mean, or even if this alien was going to be able to help him or not. He pressed his inquiry onward, 'I am looking for information, I believe myself to be a test subject from a space station. It is named station Omega. It is located within - ', the alien raised it's hand, cutting him off, 'please say no more, I shall take you to our temple. I am unsure if it will provide you with your answer or simply more questions, but it is undoubtedly what has lead you to us'. Jiri felt that this was not the reason they were here. He approached the alien to speak his mind, 'look gramps, we are not here for sightseeing, we're here to find out what has happened to my friend here'. The figure looked Jiri in the face. He then started to approach Jiri, getting very close. Jiri though for a moment he might try to touch his face. The alien was repulsive, Jiri cold smell him, it smelt like burnt flesh. The alien studied Jiri's face, then suddenly the neutral expression on his face turned to one of surprise. The figure suddenly was filled with enthusiasm and disbelief 'It is you!'. Jiri was stunned by this sudden enthusiasm, was this simply more cryptic behavior? Or maybe this alien was insane?, 'umm… you know me? Look, you might have me confused with someone else'. The figure shook his head with vigor, 'no, it is you. You who will deliver us from evil! Who will make right the wrongs! You who are our salvation!'. Jiri looked at this small figure, this alien was clearly insane. Right? He looked at Tyken for an explanation of some kind, Tyken looked at Jiri and shrugged, apparently he was also at a loss to explain this strange behavior. The peculiar little alien begun to play host, enthusiastically imploring, 'Please, come to the temple, it would be an honor for us to accommodate the descendant of the chosen one and his companion!'. He took Jiri's hand and lead him forwards. Tyken followed closely behind. Jiri inquired, 'well, you got a name?'. The figure continued to walk as he replied, 'in the common tongue I am called Xhal, now please, let us continue'.

They traversed the rocky formations, into valleys and caves, turning and winding. Jiri wondered several times if they may be lost, but the hunched little guide did seem to know where he was going. After perhaps an hour they reached a giant cave inside of a mountain. 'This is your temple?' asked Jiri, disbelief evident in his voice. 'It is our sacred ground, where we pay our respects to the gods'. As Xhal spoke of gods, his voice was full of admiration and conviction. Jiri begun to wonder of the sanity of this small alien, were they really going to find any kind of answers here? They were led them into the cave. Jiri whispered to Tyken, 'you really think we are going to be able to find help here? He seems more interested in his beliefs than in us, and he's crazy to boot'. Tyken answered, 'he is most certainly pious, but that does not mean that he will not be able to assist us with what we are looking for'. Tyken apparently was willing to do whatever it took to find out the answers he was looking for. The whole situation put Jiri in a state of unease, he find himself gripping the pistol that Plex give him for comfort.

As they went deeper into the cave, the walls became illuminated with blue light. They were covered in carvings and markings. Some of them looked like planets, others depicted long necked aliens, large ships, complex writing. Jiri was looking all around the walls at these strange markings, as he did, more figures in robes appeared. All of their eyes seemed to be upon him and it created yet a greater feeling of unease. Jiri could hear them whispering among themselves, 'it's him', 'the prophet', 'our savior'. Jiri felt like the walls were closing in, he really didn't want to be in this apparent temple any longer. He decided to get an explanation from their new guide. 'Look' he begun as he spoke to Xhal, we appreciate what your trying to do for us, but we really need information about my friend, not about whatever passes for faith around these parts'. Xhal replied, 'Information will be given, through your ears and through your eyes. What you choose to do with the information is your prerogative'. Jiri felt his face scrunch up in frustration, apparently a straight answer was too much to ask for. But whatever this little game was, they were going to have to play it to make this trip worth it.

After taking them through various rooms and halls, Xhal led them into a vast chamber. 'This', the hooded alien said aloud, 'is our most holy shrine'. Jiri looked towards the center of the room, a strange device was there. It was very large, it had several chambers that looked like they housed people. The doors to these chambers were made of glass, they were currently empty. 'The gift of the gods', Xhal continued in admiration.

Xhal continued his proclamation, 'the gods were great beings, they held a great power, perhaps the greatest power in the galaxy, the power to create life'. Jiri looked at the walls in the chamber. The long necked aliens… he had read about aliens like this before. These aliens were from the planet Kimino… cloners. 'The gods would use their power to assist others in their endeavors, a great amount of good was done through their great gifts. But there those of great evil who would ask gifts from the gods for the purposes of evil. They asked of the gods a gift that could be used for the purposes of war'. Jiri felt the hair stand on the back of his neck, he knew what he was talking about, 'your taking about the clone wars'. The alien nodded. 'The clone wars are what the galaxy calls the events that were set in motion by the gods creation. They used their great gift to create a legion of men, men that were to be used for the good and protection of everyone. But evil was able to deceive the galaxy. The warring armies were but puppets, the purpose of which was to consolidate power. The gods gift was successful in their purpose, all opposition they faced was eliminated and power consolidated. At the head of that power however, evil rested, evil that realized that the only threat left to challenge them were the gods themselves'. Jiri moved to a section of wall that depicted large ships over a planet. The ships were firing down upon the planet. 'A planetary bombardment was set upon the planet Kimino. They set their great starships upon the planet'. Jiri ran his fingers along the wall where giant ships were blasting the planet with laser fire. 'It took time' continued the alien, 'but in the end the gods were destroyed by the very flame they had created'. The alien hung his head, it was evidently a somber moment to reflect on.

The alien lifted his head and continued, 'Some of the gods were able to escape the doom of their planet however, they scattered across the galaxy to different parts. Some were even able to escape with holy relics, such as the one in the center of this room'. Jiri looked towards the device, 'this is a cloner?'. The alien replied, 'it is part of a whole, this part is the book. Other parts are the arm, the sword, there are perhaps other parts. The fact is that we cannot understand the will of the gods, nor do we fully understand the relics and their true power'.

Tyken approached Xhal, his aggressive posture communicated his frustration, 'None of this explains what was done to me. We mentioned to you that we have come seeking answers, I need to understand what was being done to me, why I was being experimented on and tortured'. Xhal's head hung low. 'I am afraid I cannot provide you with the answers you seek'. He looked at Tyken directly in the eye, 'all I can tell you is that you are a marked man, you reek of death. If you live, you will kill everyone you ever cared about'. Tyken's jaw dropped, then fury took over, 'you little weasel! I came here for answers and all you provide me with is ridicule and nonsense! I will not stand here and listen to you any longer'. He turned and stormed out of the room, pulling his cloak over his head. Jiri turned to Xhal, unsure of how to react. 'You must follow him', the alien implored. 'You who are our savior, you have hardships ahead of you, but you must prevail for the good of everyone. Deliver us from evil'. The alien turned and walked away into the shadows, leaving Jiri completely confused. He looked at Tyken leaving down the long corridor of the cave. He took to running after his companion.

By the time Jiri reached Tyken they were out of the cave. Jiri was catching his breath as Tyken fumed, 'a complete waste of time, religious gibberish, nonsense and empty banter', he was pacing in fury as he spoke. Jiri couldn't help but try to lighten the situation, 'so you didn't find what you were after then I take it?'. Tyken shot Jiri an angry look, after a few moments he couldn't help but give a feint smile. 'Let us return to the spacecraft, hopefully our new friends are still waiting', Jiri added, 'yeah, here's hoping'. They begun the long trek back to the ship. After a little while Tyken asked, 'are you sure we are going the right direction?'. Jiri replied, 'yeah man, I'm a tracker remember? This is what I do'. Suddenly a ship came down from the skies. It was moving incredibly fast, and it seemed to be heading right for where Jiri and Tyken were. It pulled up very close to them and landed on a flat area of the rocky surface. The walkway came down and it's occupant emerged. The figure was tall, wearing a hooded robe… and a mask. Jiri felt his anger rise to the surface. The figures sharp metallic voice sounded unmistakably thought the air, 'hello my wayward experiment. It's taken me a while to find you…'.


	14. Chapter 14 – Dead Men's Tales

Cypher stepped down from the ships walkway, he was followed closely by his small spherical droid with the red eye. His stride was confident, arrogant even. You could almost sense the smug smile etched on his face behind the mask. Jiri clenched his teeth. His grip tightened on the rifle, this was the son of a bitch he had been waiting for, the one he needed to kill for revenge. Cypher cast his eyes upon Tyken. His metallic voice rang through the air with a sense of accusation, 'you have caused me no end of trouble… but you were a successful experiment. I know that, even if you do not'.

Cypher extended his hand towards Tyken in a show of offering. Cypher implored, 'I can show you the unimaginable power that you could posses with me! Join with me!', his talking became more enthusiastic and emphatic, 'Together we will have the power to bring this entire galaxy to it's knees!'.

Jiri's death stare became more concentrated, he wanted nothing more than to rip the head off this masked bastard. He glanced at Tyken. He did a double take when he saw Tyken's expression, it was one of indecisiveness and contemplation. Was he actually considering this offer? 'Tyken!' Jiri's voice was sharp and commanding, Tyken snapped out of his trance. Cypher turned his attention to Jiri.

'Oh yes, the child', he moaned condescendingly. 'My orders are to bring you in alive, but if you resist I have no reservations about killing you'.

Jiri's temper hit boiling point, he gripped his rifle tightly as he brought it into firing position, lining up his sights on his hated masked enemy. He shouted in rage as he snapped a shot off aimed directly at Cypher's head.

Cypher drew his light-saber, the red light of the blade sprang to life with a swish as he successfully ducked the shot to his head. Jiri grunted in frustration as he fired off another three shots, all on target to Cypher's chest and neck. With blinding speed, Cypher's light-saber cut through the air, spinning around Cypher's body to defend against the shots. The first shot deflected into the ground, the second ricocheted into the sky. Cypher spun quickly avoiding the third shot, but then swung his light-saber like a bat, sending the blast directly back at Jiri. A bright light burst from Jiri's chest as the shot ripped into his flesh with massive force. Jiri was smashed backwards, he hit the ground back first hard, and skidded across the ground several feet, and was left twitching and writhing in pain upon the ground.

Tyken cried out, 'Jiri!'. Jiri was still moving, but his only movement was the result of his agony. Tyken's face turned to one of anger and retribution, creases showed on his face, he grit his teeth, he even snarled slightly as he drew his light-saber. The blue blade sprang to life from it's hilt, piercing the darkness. Cypher stood motionless, watching Tyken for a beat before exclaiming, 'my old light-saber... Fitting that you stole it during your little escape'.

Tyken pulled the blade into his fighting stance and charged at Cypher, spinning the blade to throw his opponent off guard, surprise him as to where the strike would come from. Cypher drew his own blade across his body, his confidence was obvious, he was even excited. He whispered in a low voice as Tyken charged towards him, 'Come at me, do not disappoint', his anticipation of finally having a good fight was hard to hide.

Tyken swung his light-saber, Cypher waved his to intercept, the clash of blades caused sparks to fly in all directions. The blades were held against each other, both combatants pushing, the purple light coming off the sabres was intense. Both pushed with everything they had, it looked like a stalemate, neither was giving ground. Suddenly, Cypher pushed outwards with a wave of force energy, a shock-wave that smashed outwards, sending Tyken flailing backwards, but able to keep his footing somehow as he stumbled back.

He only just managed to regain his balance before Cypher jumped at him, light-saber swinging for his head. Tyken blocked it only centimeters from his throat. Tyken pushed his blade outwards, away from his body. As soon as he did, another blow reigned on him, coming on from the other side towards his chest. He moved his blade imminently to deflected it, as soon as he did, another blow followed to his leg. Every time Tyken deflected, another blow would come with incredible speed. Tyken found himself being pushed back trying to stop the reign of saber strikes, the devastating force they were being delivered with tested his balance, if he slipped up once he was dead or worse… but he couldn't get off a single strike, the blows were coming in too fast and hard.

A chance! Tyken saw for a split second an opening, he hesitated slightly before striking with his saber towards Cypher's throat. Cypher ducked effortlessly under the blade, his saber flashed through the air again and caught Tyken on the arm.

Tyken yelled in pain as sparks flew from his arm. He stumbled back and fell backwardsclutching his wound, it wasn't deep, but the arm was going to be slower for the remainder of the fight.

Cypher ceased his aggression, light-saber still drawn he appealed to Tyken again, his metallic voice ringing through the air once more, 'you hesitate, that is why you are now upon the ground, lookup up at your better'. Tyken exhaled heavily, aggression was all over his face. This seemed to amuse Cypher, 'look at you, naive, weak and pathetic. You surely know now that you cannot beat me, but I am offering you an alternative…'.

He extended his hand towards Tyken again, 'join me! With me you will know power that you never thought possible! Others will beg at your feet! The universe will become your plaything! You have only to take my hand…'. Tyken was gasping for air, his wounded arm had trouble holding onto his light-saber properly. Tyken knew that he did not want to die, and if what this masked man said was true… He looked at Jiri, there was blood on Jiri's lips as he struggled to get up. Tyken remembered what had been done to the youth, his family, his home, his planet, all gone… all because of him… No! He owed Jiri everything, he could not rest. He couldn't accept death!

'NO!' Tyken shouted as he pounced on Cypher. Cypher was caught off guard as he struggled to mount a defense, Tyken's light-saber flew through the air with speed and power, reigning strikes as powerful as had been reigned on him. Cypher struggled to hold his defense, blocking shot after shot, moving backwards.

Cypher's determiner was calm however, he blocked the strikes as he moved backwards, forcing Tyken forwards to continue his aggression. Suddenly he saw a chance. There was no hesitation, his light-saber moved with amazing speed at Tyken's exposed leg. Tyken blocked it at the last possible second. Then more blows came down from above as Tyken was again put on the defensive, blocking the seemingly unstoppable onslaught of furious blows.

Cypher begun to push Tyken back as his reign of saber strikes pummeled again and again against Tyken's failing defense. Tyken begun to tire, his wounded arm, the never ending barrage of light-saber blows, his movements slowed down ever so slightly...

Enough so that Cypher's red saber found and opening and pierced Tyken's stomach, Tyken fell to the ground, clutching his mid section, gripping it in the fetal position. The wound wasn't deep, but Tyken already knew that it would kill him if he didn't get medical assistance for it. Cypher swung his saber at the now defenseless Tyken, catching his leg. Sparks few as the leg was cut open. Cypher then drew his sabre right next to Tyken's body.

He begun to speak again, 'my friend… it didn't have to be like this, if you had simply come with me this would have been so much simpler'. He pushed the blade into Tyken's shoulder. the light-saber slowly sunk into his flesh, a loud searing noise could be heard, smoke came from the wound, sparks of burnt flesh flicked up from the wound. Tyken screamed, the cry echoed for miles around.

Cypher pulled the blade out quickly and swung at Tyken again, catching the other arm. Tyken was now completely defenseless, neither of his arms could move. Cypher lowered his red blade next to Tyken's throat. His metallic voice sounded, 'I'd much prefer to bring you in alive, but a corpse will suffice'. He raised the blade above his head.

Jiri came back into focus, shaking the cobweb haze. His vision was blurred, but he could see a figure with a red light-saber standing other another figure, Cypher! That masked bastard had taken everything from Jiri, now he was going to take his friend? Jiri stood and bolted towards Cypher, his vision tunneled as he hurtled towards his adversary, he had only one target.

Cypher had only a moment to react as he saw Jiri speeding towards him, he pulled his light-saber to his side ready to strike. Suddenly Jiri pulled out the pistol from his pocket and fired a shot at Cypher's head. Cypher barley reacted in time, pulling head head to the side and only just blocking the shot with his saber. Suddenly Jiri was on top of him, gripping his wrist that held the light-saber, stopping his blade from moving.

Before Cypher could move, Jiri threw his head towards Cypher's mask. The headbutt connected with brutal force. For a moment Cypher lost his awareness. The impact was so hard that his mask cracked. He regained his awareness just enough to be able to swing his saber from his still held wrist. Jiri spun his body into Cypher's, dodging the saber swing. With his back now turned towards Cypher, Jiri pressed Cypher's arm downwards across his own. He pushed with everything he had until he heard the unmistakable sound and feeling of bone breaking. Cypher's arm bone shattered as he screamed in pain, dropping his light-saber from his now useless arm.

Jiri threw an elbow behind him at Cypher's face, further disorienting him. Cypher staggered backwards, but Jiri jumped on him again, fury in his strikes. He threw a punch at Cypher's chest and heard the sound of more bones breaking, he broke at least two ribs, maybe more. Jiri's leg shot out towards Cypher's knee, causing Cypher's leg to collapse underneath him. His leg strength failed him and he dropped to his knee's.

Jiri grabbed him by the throat as he pulled the pistol out and brought it up to Cypher's head. Cypher was about to speak, 'You have no ide-', he was silenced by the shot hitting him in the forehead at point blank range. Cypher's body was thrown backwards from the force, smoke pouring from the hole left by the blaster.

As Jiri's adrenaline rush faded, he felt his body begin to give way. He snapped out of it, 'no! I can't die here, get back to the ship and…', he looked over at Tyken lying motionlessly on the ground. He ran over as fast as he could, clutching his wounded stomach. He checked Tyken's pulse. It was feint, but it was there. 'Alright dude, hold on, we're gonna get you help'. Tyken was unconscious, not moving at all. Jiri threw Tyken's arm around his own shoulder as he got to his feet.

As he did so he noticed the small droid following Cypher approach his body. A small laser, or scanner of some kind fired from the droids red eye. Something came out of the body, it looked like mist being sucked into the droid. The droid finished and moved towards Cypher's ship.

Jiri kept walking with the unconscious Tyken slung over his shoulders as he watched this small droid go into the ship. The bay door to the ship closed and the ship took to the air. It turned and begun to leave the atmosphere. Jiri turned his attention to his target, Plex's ship, the Ninbus. He had to gamble that Plex had not left, and was willing to give them medical attention, if she had gone they were both dead.

He kept pressing onward, despite Tyken's body becoming heavier and heavier. Breathing was getting harder, he felt like there was no more air on the planet. His vision was fading. He kept pressing onward however, not even sure he was going the correct direction anymore. His legs felt like they were made of lead. His shoulders were numb, he closed his eyes, unable to keep them open any more. With closed eyes, he kept pressing onward, his legs fumbling almost giving way underneath the weight. It was no use, he collapsed. His face hit the hard ground and his consciousness begun to fade.


	15. Chapter 15 - Salvation

Jiri's eye's fluttered open as he came back to consciousness. He sat upright, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen as he did so. His face turned into a grimace as his hands reflexively clutched it. He noticed as his hands covered the wound that it had been bandaged. He took in his surroundings, he was in a medbay. Across the room, he wookie Roruk was putting away medical supplies.

Jiri tried to stand, struggling to do so. Roruk put his paw to Jiri's chest, 'ruurrurrurr' he said using his series of growls. Jiri couldn't understand what the wookie was saying, but he knew what he meant. 'I'll take it easy, thanks Roruk'.

The wookie went back to stocking the medical supplies back into their place. Jiri sat up, still wondering how they got back to the ship. 'What happened?' he asked the wookie. Roruk begun to reply, 'ruuruurrr urrrrrurrrur'. Jiri stared at him blankly for a few moments. 'What?' he said, trying not to sound insulting. Roruk stared at Jiri. A few moments of silence passed. Roruk then took Jiri's hand and walked him into the cockpit of the ship where Plex was sitting.

Plex swiveled her seat around to face Jiri, she saw him standing up. His stomach had been patched up and he was walking with a slight limp, but he was alive.

As she addressed Jiri, her voice was full of jest, 'Aaaand he lives! Looks like you owe me fifty credits Roruk! Told you I'd keep the kid alive!'.

Jiri couldn't help but smile at this, Plex was ever joking with him, acting aloof and care free, but he saw it as soon as he walked through the door. He saw the relief on her face as she turned and saw that he was alright.

Roruk begun a series of growls and grunts towards Plex. After listening to her companion, she turned her attention back towards Jiri, 'What happened you ask? I'd like to ask you the same question. We saw you both staggering towards the ship, then you just collapsed. Good thing we had Roruk to carry you both, or the chances are you might never have made it back to the ship. What the hell happened to you guys down there?'.

Jiri explained what happened, the temple, the lack of answers, the sudden appearance of the masked Cypher, the journey back, right up to the point where he mentioned carrying Tyken on his back… He stopped mid sentence, 'Tyken… where is he?'.

Plex's expression dropped and she looked away. Jiri feared the worst, his heart sank. She begun… 'he… he's in a bad way. We patched him up as best we could, but he needs surgery. He will die without being operated on'. Jiri was speechless. He finally answered with the only thing he could think of saying, 'so… where is he now?'.

Plex responded, 'he's in a cryo-tube. It will slow down most of his bodily functions to help keep him alive longer, but it won't last forever'. She stared out the windshield of the ship.

Jiri was still shocked, his words almost fumbled out of his mouth, 'so… what do we do?'.

Plex sighed, her head lowered as she spoke, 'we get him surgery. Only problem is it ain't common in this part of space. Most stations and planets nearby with medical centers are run by gangs, thugs and warlords. If we go there they will probably use their medical tools to take all of our organs to sell. We have to go somewhere where we can trust the staff'.

Jiri wondered the way she said it that she might already have somewhere in mind. She continued, 'some of friends of ours are part of a group acting to fight some of the… less savory aspects of this part of space. Roruk and myself mostly avoid the place because of our… affiliates… but they will help us if we go there'.

Jiri saw that the ship was already moving. He figured where they were headed, but needed to make sure, 'we are headed there now?'. Plex nodded slowly.

Jiri felt a wave of reassurance wash over him, but at the same time he felt indebted to Plex. She saved the lives of both Tyken and himself, and he had nothing to offer aside from his gratitude. 'Listen Plex', he begun, 'I know you need money to do jobs…. And we don't have any way to pay you…'.

Plex gave Jiri a frustrated look, 'uurrg, you had to bring up money didn't you?'. She flashed Jiri a hard look, clearly annoyed that he had mentioned it, 'I'm not charging you for this alright? I couldn't just let you die outside my ship. Don't mention money to me again'.

Jiri tried to hide his smile as he lowered his head, his heart actually melted a little at this apparent queen of ice who was helping them for no personal gain. For all of her outward jaggedness, she was actually a caring soul. Jiri offered all he was able in return; his appreciation. 'What I mean to say is thank you, we would be dead right now if you hadn't helped us', he said in a somber tone.

Plex turned her seat back towards the ships front window, 'I know. And your welcome'.

Jiri left the cockpit to check on his friend, Plex shouted behind him, 'don't tell anyone that I'm doing this without pay though, or every cheapskate in the sector will be begging me for free work!'.

Jiri crossed into the ships cargo hanger. There the Cryo-unit sat with it's occupant, Tyken. Surrounded by near freezing liquid, he was breathing through a repository mask. Jiri looked at Tyken's body, he could see the damage, the stomach wound in particular looked deep.

Jiri put his hand on the tank, speaking to his unconscious friend, 'just hold on as long as you can buddy, we'll get you help. You'll be your old self in no time'. Jiri gave a satisfied grin as he told his friend, 'and don't worry, I got that masked bastard for the both of us. Chances are he's rotting in hell right now'.


	16. Chapter 16 - Ashes and Dust

Station Omega loomed into view. The shuttle dropped out of hyperspace, jolting itself as it slowed to impulse. The sleek black metal ship slowed reflected in the light as it drew nearer to the station. The ship closed the distance, as it got close to the station, the hanger bay opened, and the metallic cruiser floated into the station.

The ship docked, the legs deployed and the ship set itself down with an unmistakable hissing sound. The ships walkway deployed, and the small black spherical droid with the red eye floated down into the hanger. It moved with absolute purpose, and clear objective as it floated through the air with the gentle hum of it's anti-grav thrusters.

The droid moved to a locked door. It moved to the control panel of the door and ran a scan over the panel. The door hissed open, and the droid floated inside.

The room was huge, high ceilings, tubes ran everywhere and ventilation systems were scattered all over the walls, floor and ceiling. Walkways provided access to some of the machinery that was present in the room. Mist was present everywhere, The machinery that made up the walls was littered with glass tubes. Tubes big enough to house people.

The droid floated over the staging area in the middle of the room. It floated up the stairs and moved to the machine at the back of the staging area wall. The spherical droid approached the machine's control panel. It ran it's scanner over the machines control panel. A compartment revealed itself, a small round compartment big enough to house the droid. The sphere inserted itself into the slot.

The machine sprang to life, the room filled with noise. Mist covered the room, the glass tube that the droid was now controlling fogged up.

The mist cleared, revealing what was happening within the glass chamber. A green slimy substance was in the tube. The slime begun to become transparent, revealing what was underneath. Within the confines of the chamber, a body was being created.

Another of the stations droids appeared, this one carried clothing. Evidently, this droid was awaiting the occupant of the chamber to finish with the procedure. The droid carried a black robe, a light-saber, and an ominous mask…


	17. Chapter 17 - New Hope

The station's hanger door opened and the Ninbus started it's slow entry into the hanger. The landing legs deployed as the ship prepared to make it's connection with the hanger deck.

'So these friends of yours', started Jiri as they made their final decent, 'are they friendly?'. Plex shrugged as she answered, 'sure they are, but you might perhaps call them an acquired taste… idealists they are, not realists'.

Jiri was thinking about what this might mean as the ship jolted to a halt.

Roruk came into the cockpit, saying something to Plex. Jiri was only just starting to understand the complexity of wookie communication, he was a long way off understanding Roruk, but he was getting more used to the sounds, mannerisms and feeling that the wookie was attempting to convey.

Plex's reply was heavy with sarcasm, 'Yes, I'm sure he is interested in seeing me, I'm ever so glad he went out of his way to mention it, thanks Roruk',

As Roruk left the cockpit, Jiri raised his eyebrows in Plex's direction, a subtle way of asking what that was. Plex shook her head in exasperation as she answered, 'his name is Wern, trust me, you will see for yourself once we get off the ship'.

Roruk was already off the ship speaking with someone, a small man with a hunch in his back. He had an upturned nose, and his determiner seemed to be very confrontational. His voice was raised at the wookie as Plex and Jiri made their way down the walkway of the Ninbus into the stations hanger bay.

The small man's voice rang clear with annoyance, 'look, I don't care how unwell he is. I don't care if you have a crate full of lepers in your ship, this is not a charity we are running here. The resistance cannot just give away medical treatment to everyone in the galaxy…'. He stopped as soon as he saw Plex coming his way.

He promptly left Roruk where he stood and waddled over as fast as he could towards Plex. 'Oh it is you! Oh for a moment I thought that beastly wookie lied to me! You are as beautiful as the last time I saw you! Maybe even more so if that is even possible'. He grabbed Plex's hand and brought it up to his mouth, planting a kiss on it.

'Hello Wern', Plex's face scrunched up as she spoke, she wasn't very good at hiding her emotions. Jiri decided that he might try to intervene and make things more comfortable for her. Jiri motioned towards the little man, 'and you are?'. The man flashed a stare at Jiri, 'annoyed that you are interrupting my courtship'.

Plex knelt down to meet him face to face, 'listen, I have a good friend on my ship, and he's dying… he needs surgery'. Wern's face turned to apathy and disinterest. Seeing this emotional shift, Plex decided convince him with a more unorthodox approach.

She stood up straight and put the back of her hand to her forehead, aching her neck back. She begun to speak in an overly dramatic voice, 'oh my good friend is dying, and he will surely be dead within a day. Who could save him? Why, any man who could save him may capture my heart!'.

Jiri sniggered and almost burst out laughing, it was without a doubt the worst acting performance he had seen in his life.

Wern's eyes went wide. His hands begun to fumble with the device he was carrying. 'Wait, I can! I can save your friend, I'll let the medical staff know that there is an emergency and we will get him seen to immediately!'.

Plex clasped her hands together, pretending to swoon, 'Oh Wern! My heart is fluttering with joy! Such a man to have the power to save my friend from certain death! I can hardly contain my… umm… joy'. Wern grabbed her hands, he licked his lips as he spoke, 'yes, so maybe I can take you on a date? I know a place that is really the best for -'.

Plex cut him off. She dropped the act, apparently out of patience, 'yeah okay, whatever, get my friend out of the cargo hold and into medical and we'll go wherever you want'.

Wern ran away making a squealing sound. He ran a few steps before turning to blow an awkward kiss at Plex. She forced a smile before clapping her hands rapidly, signalling him to hurry up.

Plex caught Jiri's expression. He was struggling to contain his laughter. Plex broke into a smile and playfully punched Jiri in the arm, 'oh common, was it really that bad?'.

Jiri smiled and shook his head, laughing while he spoke, 'I've seen some bad performances in my life, some truly awful acting…'. Plex almost laughed as she pushed Jiri in the chest, 'oh shut up, it wasn't that bad, he brought it and Tyken is getting the help now'.

Jiri kept playing, 'but at what cost? You killed someone just now, and the victims name is theater! Oh wait, a second victim, good taste is now dead too'. Plex's laughter was loud and infectious, Jiri begun to laugh as well. Plex playfully hit Jiri in the chest as she put her head to it.

They both stopped laughing. Plex was standing with her head in Jiri's chest. She looked up at him and they locked eyes. A few moments passed before Plex remembered herself, she turned around adjusting her clothes. A brief silence followed, before Plex broke it, 'we need to meet up with the people running this place. They are the friends I told you about. Common, I'll take you there now'.

Plex lead Jiri into an office. At a desk sat a large woman, arguing with a solider. She was pointing at a map sprawled out on her desk, 'a direct assault is suicide, we'd lose too many people, if we were to do this we…'. As soon as Plex entered the room she stopped talking and stared. She suddenly got up and threw her arms outwards, 'Plex! Welcome back!' as she ran up to Plex and gave her a big embrace. Plex hugged her back, 'hey Lyn, good to see you again. How goes the fight?'.

Lyn gave the solider a nod, 'we can continue this later'. The solider saluted her before leaving the room. Lyn sighed, 'how long do you have?'. Plex replied, 'a while, one of ours is in your medical ward getting patched up, so we'll be staying a few days at least'.

Lyn gave a weak smile, 'that might be enough time to fill you in on everything'.

Lyn glanced at Jiri, then addressed him, 'Oh, sorry for the lack of introductions, I'm Lyn'. 'Jiri', he replied. Lyn continued, 'you are welcome to stay as long as you like, any friend of Plex's is a friend of ours'.

Jiri's curiosity once again got the better of him, 'Ours? Who are you people? What is this place?'. He could almost see Plex rolling her eyes, it would seem what was about to be said she had heard many times before.

Lyn begun, enthusiasm in her voice, 'We are an idea, the idea that all of the galaxy should be free, free to do as they will without fear of being killed for profit, free to speak their mind without being hauled away into a prison of some kind, real freedom to do as one wants'.

Jiri was slightly confused by this, 'well there is no law around these parts. We are not under the rule of the republic, nor the first order. Does that not mean we are already free?'.

Lyn looked at him hard, 'the law is non-existent because those with power do not respect order. They make up the rules and enforce them however they want, making it up as they go. If you cross them you die, that is normally as complicated as they make it. We want this to change, we want to bring order to this sector so that we might create a better life for all people'.

Jiri thought about this, 'so you want to become a government? To be the ones that establish the rules?'. Lyn's gaze was unwavering, 'essentially, yes. This is why this station was created, why we are doing everything that we can to bring light to this dark sector of the universe'.

Plex's arms were crossed, an annoyed expression was all over her face, 'yeah, I've heard all this before. I can't wait until you get to the part where the unicorns jump over chocolate rainbows in lala land'.

Lyn sighed, 'Plex has never been a big believer in our ambitions'. Plex shook her head as she continued, 'I don't believe it because I've seen enough of the galaxy to know better, people don't care about your little rebellion you have going here. They are too caught up in their own affairs to worry about the fate of an entire galaxy. What you say all sounds great, but in the end, you won't be able to fix all of the problems that are faced by the people here'.

Lyn replied, 'fixing all of the problems is not the goal, the goal is to give people the freedom to make their own mistakes and problems rather than fix everything for them'.

Plex was still combative, 'and if you were to succeed? Eventually your organization would become what it was created to fight, it always happens. You can't change people, their greed, their inhumanity to one another. You can try to make change happen, but in the end, it's just inevitable that life will revert back to survival of the fittest, the strong will take from the weak and the weak suffer and die'.

Lyn smiled slightly, 'does that mean we shouldn't try? Being an example of the change you want to see in the universe is the only way to make those changes happen'. Lyn paused before continuing, 'That's why station New Hope was created'.

Plex's eyebrows raised as a perplexed expression went over her face, 'you named the station New Hope?'. Lyn looked slightly confused, 'yes, why?'. Plex shook her head while raising her hands, apparently conceding, 'no ok, name it whatever you want'.

Lyn slapped her hands against her knees, 'well that's enough talk for the moment, time to get you to your quarters… umm…', she shot a look to Jiri and then back to Plex, 'are you two…', she took her index fingers and started to push them together. Plex turned red as she looked at Jiri, he was rubbing his head, also unsure of how to respond. Plex answered awkwardly, 'Um… separate quarters please Lyn'.

Lyn spoke as she led them out of the room, 'okay, separate quarters it is'. Her voice lowered as she walked near Plex, 'you really should though Plex, he's a cute one'. Plex turned bright red, 'Lyn!' she exclaimed, as she looked over at Jiri, hoping that he didn't hear. His giant grin suggested that he had.

They passed the hanger as they went to their logging's on the station. Wern spied them as they passed, he knew they were going to the station's accommodation area. This meant they would be on the station for a while, at least overnight.

He opened his holo-cron communicator. A solider appeared 'you had better have some good intel to be contacting us like this Wern', the solider was curt, Wern's reply had as much authority as he could muster, 'put me directly through to Kinshoo right now. Trust me, he's going to want to hear what I have to tell him'.


	18. Chapter 18 - Life and Death

The room was silent. Mist flowed slowly past the mostly empty tubes. One tube was full of green liquid however. Suddenly, the doors to the functioning chamber opened with a gentle hum. Green goo inside the chamber seeped away into the base of the tube. A hand raised from within, still covered in green slime. It gripped the side of the tube, goo was flung all over the side of the tube, as the figure pulled himself out. His hands were on his knees, he was panting. The process he had just gone through was exhausting. Then the view screen sprang to life with Kinshoo the hutts face. The still recovering figure gritted his teeth in anger when the face appeared.

Kinshoo's tone was condescending, he begun tisking and shaking his giant head before speaking in his guttural language, 'my young disciple, yet again you offer noting but failure. Must I hold your hand to ensure the job is done correctly?'.

The figure silently took the robe from the droid nearby and threw it over himself.

Kinshoo continued, 'Am I to understand that you have not only failed to acquire the specimen, but have lost it's location as well?'.

The figure he took the light-saber from the droid and attached it to his belt.

Kinshoo smiled as he went on, 'fortunately, my network of informants have succeeded where you have failed. I happen to know where it is'.

The figure took the mask from the droid and pressed it to his face. A soft hissing noise could be heard. He turned to face the hutt, his sharp metallic voice rang through the air, 'where is he?'. Cypher's voice was full of determination and rage.

Kinshoo grinned as he replied, 'I am unsure if you can be entrusted any further with this mission, failure is not something I enjoy tolerating, yet it is all you offer me'.

Cypher's face turned to a scowl underneath his mask. The hutt was enjoying this, by reprimanding him, the chain of command was re-enforced, reminding Cypher of his place. Even through Cypher knew what the hutt was doing and why he was doing it, the process was so infuriating, he felt like smashing the view screen to pieces.

Cypher's answer was carefully chosen, a combination of what the hutt wanted to hear mixed with his own determination, 'the failing was mine, but I will have their blood. Give me their location and I WILL bring them back. There are no longer any lines that I will not cross to achieve that end'.

Kinshoo grinned at Cypher for a moment before replying, 'if you were willing to cross those lines to begin with perhaps we wouldn't be here now'. Kinshoo signed loudly and audibly, trying to milk the situation for everything he could. Kinshoo looked at Cypher directly in the face as he spoke, 'the co-ordinates are being transferred now. You may be happy to hear it, but they have entered the rebellions headquarters'.

Cypher's surprise and anger were hard to hide, his tone of voice did not mask it, 'you… you know where the rebellion is located? And you didn't tell me? Why was I not informed?'.

Kinshoo's reply was curt, matter of fact, 'because you are on a need-to-know basis'.

Cypher did not want to hear the second part of that statement, he cut Kinshoo off, 'you have allowed them to continue to resist our efforts while doing nothing to stop them?'.

Kinshoo smiled, 'I have eyes and ears everywhere, including the rebellion. I am fully aware of how much of a threat they are. Or more accurately, how much of a threat they are not. They were not worth the resources to attack'. He paused before adding, 'until now'.

Kinshoo gave Cypher a hard look, 'go to the station where they are located. Take whatever resources are necessary to obtain the specimen'. He also added, 'but should you fail it would be advisable not to return', he slowly added, 'If I kill you, you will stay dead'.

The view screen terminated and the hutt disappeared from view. As angry as Cypher was at his masters patronizing tone, he knew that he was right, he could not fail again.

Cypher pressed down a corridor and into the main laboratory. 'How much of the substance have you got ready?' he asked the newly appointed head scientist.

The scientist was shaking as he spoke, 'We… we have plenty master… but…. Well… without the specimen-'. Cypher cut him off, 'I'm aware of the risk'.

Cypher approached a cabinet that was full of test tubes and syringes. Within the tubes there was a dark purple liquid, it looked like a black hole was inside the tubes. No matter how deep you looked into the liquid, it looked like you were peering into a bottomless pit. Cypher took several tubes and inserted them into the syringes, then put the syringes into his robe.

Cypher turned his attention to his chief security officer, 'Assemble the ships, the fighters, the troops, everyone'.

The officer asked, 'are we going to war sir?'.

Cypher's response was blunt, 'it will not be a war, it will be a slaughter'.


	19. Chapter 19 - Peace and War

Jiri looked at the tube that housed his friend. Cypher's stomach wound looked much better, much like how Jiri felt when he was told that Tyken would survive. They only needed to wait for him to regain consciousness.

Jiri was getting impatient, agitated. He looked into the tube as he spoke to medical staff, 'is he going to be out soon?'.

The medical staff were busy, their answer blunt, 'he will be out in a matter of hours. As soon as he is ready for visitors we will let you know, perhaps it would be better to wait elsewhere for him to awaken'.

Jiri wandered out of the room, he didn't really have anything better to do. They had been on the station for three days now, hanging around the medical area was the only thing that he had left.

'You bored?', asked Plex as she approached. Jiri answered, 'yeah… but nervous too, I don't think i'll be at ease until I see Tyken standing on his own two feet again'.

Plex took his shoulder, 'he'll be fine, the staff here are the best. When does he get out?'.

'A few hours' Jiri replied, though his mind was more on the hand that laid on his shoulder than in his response.

'Told you I'd see you guys through this', her smile was beaming as she spoke.

Jiri's face turned slightly however, 'yes, you saved us… for no reward'.

Plex shrugged, 'yeah, so?'.

Jiri raised an eyebrow as he continued, 'So why? Do you know what I think? I think that despite your tough act, the way you don't trust others, the way you think they will use you the first chance they can… yet you saved me and my friend for no personal gain…'.

Plex glared at Jiri, suspicious of where he was taking the conversation.

'My point is', he continued, 'I think that despite all your pessimistic talk of people feeding off each other for personal gain, you don't actually believe it, or at least it's not who you are'.

Jiri took Plex's hands into his own, 'perhaps the reason you brought me here is because you want to be convinced that the universe isn't a horrible place, that there is good in people, even if you can't always see it. That perhaps, despite your claims to the contrary, you are one of those good people after all'.

Plex looked up at Jiri, his big brown eye's beamed down on her… she felt…

She threw his hands down, anger written all over her face, 'Really? You think you know the first thing about me?'. She was shouting, almost frantic, 'You sound just like Lyn, a bunch of pretty sounding words but in the end, that's all they are, a bunch of pretty words. When push comes to shove, everyone in this universe looks out for themselves…'.

Jiri was taken aback and lost for words. He stared at Plex, trying to work out why she was reacting like this.

Her face was a twisted and full of rage, but then… the scowl started to fade slowly from her face. Her lip begun to tremble, the beginning of tears welled in her eyes.

Suddenly, she turned from Jiri and stormed off down the corridor towards the hanger. The door to the Ninbus opened as she approached. She run up into the ship, the ramp closing behind her, sealing her inside her ship.

Jiri followed her, still not fully understanding what just happened. When the ships walkway retracted into the ship, he just stood staring at the ship in bewilderment wondering what went wrong.

Suddenly Roruk appeared, he made a bee line for Jiri. Jiri only saw the towering wookie seconds before he was grabbed and lifted off the ground. The wookies roar was one Jiri had made a point of remembering, he was angry.

Jiri tried o calm him, 'woah, dude… just... put me down'.

Jiri feared that he might have to live the rest of his life learning how to eat without any arms… until Plex's voice came in via Roruk's radio, 'put him down Roruk'.

Roruk's reply was a series of growls, Jiri knew the wookie was trying to understand what just happened.

Plex replied again, 'no, he didn't hurt me... Just…'. A silence followed. After a few moments, Plex's voice came back over the radio, wavering slightly, 'just put him down and come aboard, we're leaving'.

Roruk lowered Jiri back to the ground. He looked towards the ship, then back at Jiri, still unsure as to what was going on.

He then made his way to the ship, his slow, shambling manner made it clear that he was still confused by the situation. Jiri said under his breath, 'that makes two of us confused Roruk'.

Several hours passed.

Jiri sat outside the medbay awaiting Tyken's recovery. Any moment he would awaken, or so the staff had told him. As Jiri waited he ran the earlier events over in his head again, trying to make some sense of it. What had he done wrong? Was that the last time he would ever see her? His doubting and second guessing was stopped by Lyn's sudden appearance.

'Oh hey Lyn' was all Jiri came up with. Lyn happily answered, 'aah Jiri, good to see you. Where's Plex?'.

Jiri's reply was heavy with regret, 'she… um… left…'.

Lyn's head tilted, 'hm… it's unlike her to just leave without saying goodbye… did something happen?'.

Jiri answered as directly as he could, 'I tried to convince her that perhaps she embraced your ideals without actually realising it'.

Lyn was curious, 'and she… left? She was upset?'.

Jiri's head hung low, 'very'.

Lyn sighed, 'I've been trying to convince Plex of that for years, not once has she ever taken me seriously before. Certainly I've never had her react like what you just described. I think…'.

She paused before continuing her explanation, 'I think that perhaps she was upset because maybe she realized you were right?'.

Jiri looked up at Lyn in shock, this was something he hadn't considered.

Lyn continued, 'she has a painful past Jiri, I don't know how much she has told you, but she doesn't trust easily. I'd say that if she does have some trust in you, and has realized perhaps people are not all out to kill each other it might be hard to handle emotionally all at once'.

Jiri sighed, 'it might have been good if you were here to explain all of that while she was here'.

Lyn replied, 'perhaps look at the bright side, if she's upset at least it means she cares, if she didn't care do you think she would have reacted at all?'.

This was also something Jiri hadn't considered.

'And to continue looking on the bright side', Lyn continued, 'your friend should be up and about soon. Indecently that's why I'm here actually, to greet him to the station when he wakes up. Perhaps you can show me to him?'.

Jiri smiled and got up, a short talk with Lyn had raised his spirits a lot. 'Please allow me', almost with a sense of sarcasm as he offered Lyn his arm. 'Oh such a gentleman!' she replied in a dramatic voice. Jiri smiled, 'well at least your a better actor than Plex'. Lyn smiled, 'oh you saw her acting? Did…'.

Lyn's voice stopped as she saw the figure in the tank floating. Her face turned white. She grabbed Jiri by the shoulders and took him out of the room.

Her voice was frantic, 'do you have any idea who that is?'.

Jiri was confused by this, 'yes, it's my friend Tyken'.

Lyn quickly responded, panic in her voice, 'is that what he told you? You have no idea what - '.

Alarms sounded all across the station. Lights flashed. Lyn received a message over the telecom, 'Commander, a fleet has dropped out of hyperspace and is approaching the station'.

'A fleet? What kind of fleet? Can you identify them?' she replied hastily into her wrist.

'We believe so commander, the fleet is being headed by a black scout ship…'.

Lyn gritted her teeth, 'It's Cypher'.

Jiri interjected, 'no, it can't be. We killed Cypher on Spirious'.

Lyn gave him a look full of anger and shock, 'Did you?'.

The voice came through the comms again, 'what are your orders commander?'.

Lyn took a commanding tone, 'everyone to battle stations, man the turrets and scramble our fighters... And everyone get ready for the fight of your lives!'.


	20. Chapter 20 - Death of Innocence

Lyn was almost frantic, 'why are they appearing now? We have not made any major operations lately, I don't see…'. A sudden flash of realization shot across her face as she stared at Jiri, 'your friend in the medbay… they have come for him haven't they?'.

Jiri felt the confusion set in, with Cypher dead Tyken should be safe.. right? 'It can't be the same people, he told her, 'We killed Cypher'. Lyn grunted angrily, 'You killed him? Well you ain't the first kid'.

Jiri did a double take, 'what? What the hell…'. Jiri was cut off as they entered the control room. The view screen showed the incoming fleet. It was massive, a hundred ships at least, command vessels, fighters, troop carriers. At the head of the fleet was a sleek black scout ship.

Lyn pressed her finger on her radio, linking her voice to the entire station, 'scramble all available fighters and interceptors, send the fighters to the flanks of the station. Let them engage, if they are stupid enough to attack our fixed position, fly into their flanks and we should finish them quickly.

The fighters were launched. They sat abreast of the station, awaiting the advancing fleet to attack. Lyn said under her breath, 'surely they will not be so stupid to fight us with the station able to provide covering fire'. The fleet however, continued their methodical approach. They drew closer, until they were in range of the stations turrets. Lyn's finger pressed down again, her command was loud, 'open fire with everything, bring them down'.

Laser fire burst fourth from the station, a massive hail of laser shots cascaded fourth from the turrets, careening towards the formation of ships. The accuracy was good and the fleet was moving slowly, the hits would be direct.

But as the blasts neared closer to their targets… The shots begun to slow down.

Slower and slower, until they came to a dead stop.

Then they started to slowly move in the opposite direction, faster and faster until they moved back with the same speed that they came in with. Every shot that neared the fleet would slow, stop, then be reflected back towards its origin.

A massive barrage of reflected fire hit the station, shaking it. Jiri almost lost his feet. Lyn also struggling to stand shouted into her radio, 'What the hell is going on?', a command given to no one in particular, looking for any kind of answer that anyone could provide.

The head solider begun to answer, 'we are unsure, it may be some kind of new weapon that we have not seen before'.

Lyn looked towards Jiri, 'do you have any idea what we might be dealing with here?'. Jiri was shocked at what they were seeing, his stunned silence gave Lyn her answer.

More fire came form the station, and the shots continued to reflect from the slowly advancing fleet. Suddenly the main power reactor from the station took a massive laser blast, knocking out the stations central power. All of the laser turrets stopped working. The ships lights went out. Auxiliary power kicked in as secondary lighting fired up. The lights were weak, shadows were cast everywhere.

The control rooms view screen was down. Lyn picked up her mobile com system and begun talking into it, 'we need some eyes out there, what the hell is going on?'.

'Sir, central power is down. The fleet is continuing it's approach'. There was a moment of hesitation before he continued, 'sir, the station is almost totally without power. Other than emergency lighting, some elements of the med-centre and life support, none of the stations systems are running any more, including all of the laser turrets. The station can no longer fire upon the fleet'.

Lyn was swift with her response, 'send in the fighters, we need to stop them from reaching the station'.

The fighters took off towards the advancing fleet and the ships clashed in combat. The battle was long and devastating, ships were flying everywhere, laser fire flew in every direction.

Soon there was debris floating all around the station. The sounds of battle ceased. The fighting had stopped.

Lyn had her finger on the coms, 'what is happening out there?'. There was no response. 'Report! What is the situation?'.

'Sir…', apprehension was evident in the response, 'our fighters are all destroyed. The invading fleet have devastated us… but they are all holding withing firing range of the station'. There was hesitation before he continued, 'the fleet seems to have ceased it's approach, the only ship now incoming is the head ship, the black scout ship'.

Lyn grunted in frustration as she responded to the voice over the comms, 'where is the approaching ship going to dock?'.

'The front door sir. The hanger'.

Lyn's response was fast, 'all available troops get to the hanger, we will have boarders entering the station in moments'. Lyn looked towards Jiri, 'you too, get down there, we'll want every available arm down there to fight off whoever they send'.

The hanger was filled with people when Jiri arrived, hundreds of men and women took positions, laser weapons at the ready poised to blast whoever came through.

Jiri took the safety off his rifle and took a defensive position next to Lyn.

The dim lights made it hard to see, shadows were cast all over the hanger. It was eerily silent across the entire deck. Soldiers twitched uncomfortably as they awaited for the enemy. Jiri was totally focused, his gaze ran across the hanger door. It was massive, and it would be hard to tell where the enemy would arrive. He really wanted to say something to Lyn, but the silence was almost oppressive and he dared not speak above it. Slight murmurs and coughs of soldiers could be heard. One solider pulled out a medallion that had his wife's face on it. He put it to his forehead, then gave it a kiss before putting it back into his coat. A woman looked at a photograph, a tear was in her eye. She pressed the picture against her breast, then went back to her defensive position. Another solider preyed to any god who would listen to his pleas, beads in his hand, he murmured below a whisper.

Suddenly a loud crash filled the hanger, in contrast to the stark silence it was deafening. The crash sent tremors of impact across the deck of the hanger as the twisting sound of metal against metal screeched in the air. Soldiers covered their ears. Jiri's ears rang.

A large breach had been made in the hanger door. Through the breach, the nose of a sleek black scout ship pointed through. The nose opened slowly, the hum filled the hanger as every soldiers rifle was risen. Jiri swallowed hard in anticipation. Then he saw it. A figure emerged from the shadowy cockpit of the craft. A figure wearing a black robe and a mask…

'No' Jiri said under his breath. 'There's no way…'.

Lyn's command rang through the hanger, 'FIRE!'.

A massive hail of laser fire surged from every corner of the hanger. Jiri opened fire with his rifle as did Lyn, as did every available man and woman.

The shots neared their target, then… then they stopped. Laser fire sat suspended in mid air, just short of the robed figure. More shots continued to pour in and stop just shy of the target, hovering motionless. Soon so much laser energy was suspended in the air, that the figure couldn't be seen, it was just a ball of energy in the air.

Lyn rattled off a few more shots before she stood up, and commanded, 'cease fire' to the hanger. The shots begun to slowly taper off, less and less fire went towards the ball of energy that rested against the hanger door. Then they stopped all together. Silence once again was all that could be heard.

All looked on at the suspended ball of energy, Jiri looked at Lyn, hoping for an explanation. Lyn's mouth was agape, she shook her head slowly… 'What in the…' was all she could say…

Suddenly the ball of energy dissipate. Underneath the ball, he figure stood. Jiri recognized the figure, the robe, the mask… But it couldn't be Cypher, Jiri had shot him in the head.

But there was something different, Jiri couldn't put his finger on it, but… wait he could see it, there was energy visible in his fists. His robes looked like there was a breeze pushing them, but there was no breeze within the hanger. A dark red energy encircled him menacingly. Jiri felt he air around him become heavy and oppressive. It was harder to breathe.

The figure reached into his robe for something. He pulled out a syringe. Jiri couldn't see what was in it, but the figure injected his arm with it. As he did so, Jiri felt the atmosphere grew even heavier. The lights flickered. It looked like electrical discharges were happening all over the figures body. The red energy intensified. A loud noise, like a screaming whisper, roared throughout the hanger.

The figure put away the syringe, then spoke, 'My time is limited, so I will ask but once – where have you taken my specimen?' Jiri knew it as soon as he heard the metallic voice – it was him! But how?

Jiri's bile grew, his anger rose to the surface as his face twisted into a scowl of hatred. How had Cypher done this? Jiri felt the urge to charge at the robed bastard. Then Jiri felt Lyn's arm on his shoulder, he turned to see her face, almost imploring him to stay down.

After a short silence, the figure announced, 'very well, if none will help me then you are of no use to me and shall be disposed of'.

Cypher raised his hand, the power already radiating visibly from it. A massive burst of electricity flew forth. The wave was massive, it took up half of the entire hanger. Sparks flew from everywhere as power smashed against everything. The soldiers in the path of the lightning suddenly begun to writhe on the ground in pain, falling onto the ground and twitching uncontrollably, their eyes wide and moth agape. The sound of electricity rang throughout the hanger, as did the screams of those struck by it.

Lyn, feeling the pressure of her dying soldiers shouted, 'open fire! Kill him!'. The troops lucky enough to not be under the barrage of lightning resumed their offensive against Cypher.

The shots neared Cypher, but again stopped short. Cypher's hand was still outstretched and electricity still pouring from it as the shots halted just in front of him. Lyn became frustrated and desperate, 'someone hit him! HIT HIM!'.

Shots fired off even more rapidly, yet every shot fell short, being suspended in the air.

Meanwhile the soldiers under the lightning begun to stop moving. One by one they would cease their struggling and would simply begin twitching under the electricity, their eyes open and vacant.

As the final solider ceased his struggling, Cypher stopped the barrage of lightning. He looked over the pile of corpses he had just made with satisfaction. He turned his attention to those left.

The energy was still suspended in front of him, hovering there, piling up as more shots were added. Cypher swatted with his hand, as if he were swatting at an unseen insect. All of the shots were pushed back in the direction they came from, Flying out, smashing into the walls, cover, several troops were hit. The rest took cover.

Cypher reached out with his other hand, like he was choking someone. Suddenly, all of the nearby soldiers were lifted into the air, clutching their throats. Cypher lifted his arm, the soldiers rose higher into the air. The troops struggled against the unseen force suspending them, confusion and fear on their faces.

As they were lifted, a shot hunchbacked figure came out of hiding. Wern emerged from behind his cover tentatively, 'please master, don't kill me' he begged as he came out.

Cypher passed him a slight glance, 'ah, the informant. You will come to Omega station for your reward. You stand to be a very rich man. Get on the ship now'.

Wern looked around the hanger quickly before meekly inquiring, 'sorry master, but when I spoke with Kinshoo he promised me the girl. Plex'. Cypher's response was aggravated, he was running out of patience with the little man, 'she is not here, get on the ship. we shall compensate you for not securing the girl'. Wern became slightly more assertive, 'but I spoke with Kinshoo and was promised money and the girl… that was the deal'. Cypher turned towards Wern this time, Wern cowered and fell onto his backside. Cypher's voice was lower, but somehow louder as he spoke, 'then I have altered the deal, should you fail to follow my instructions again I shall alter the clause involving your survival'. Wern lowered his head in submission as he waddled as fast as he could towards the scout ship.

Lyn gritter her teeth and sprang from her position, 'Wern you filthy traitor!', she charged at Wern firing her pistol at him. The shots again fell short of the target, hovering just in front of Wern's face. Wern fell down again, whimpering. Cypher threw his hand to the side. The soldiers who were suspended in the air were thrown viciously against the hanger wall. Lyn closed the distance to Wern, almost reaching him. Cypher reached out with his hand gesturing slightly upwards. Lyn swung her fist at Wern's head, it was centimeters from his head when Lyn was pulled into the air, clutching her throat.

Wern stopped holding his breath, panting and gasping for air. Between breaths he managed to stammer out, 'she's the leader of the resistance, Commander Lyn'.

Cypher said through a grin, 'thank you Wern, although she was correct about you being filthy, you have earned your reward. Get inside the ship now'. Wern got back up and resumed his path back to the ship.

Cypher was indeed happy, the leader of the resistance, the one who had been causing him so much trouble was in his grasp. He savored the moment as much as he could. 'Thank you for this commander, you who have caused me no end of grief, and now here you are, at my mercy'. Lyn struggled to get her words out as she remained suspended in the air, 'we both know that you have no mercy Cypher. You can kill me, but you cannot kill an idea. You cannot kill peoples desire for freedom. You cannot kill that which is eternal!'.

Cypher pulled Lyn right to his face. He whispered, 'soon the only thing that will be eternal in this universe will be me!'.

Cypher drew his light-saber, the red light illuminating the darkened area, it's hum ever threatening. Cypher raised Lyn high into the air with his free hand, Lyn struggled against the unseen force pushing her upwards until she hovered just above Cypher. Then he then dropped her, gripping his light-saber with both hands. As Lyn fell, her body dropping in front of Cypher, he swung the blade. He put his entire body into the swing, swathing the blade through Lyn's body.

Her corpse toppled to the floor with a dull thud. Jiri roared, 'Lyn! You bastard Cypher!'. Cypher's attention snapped immediately as soon as he heard Jiri's voice.

He reached out with his arm and caught Jiri by the throat with his force powers, lifting him into the air. He floated rapidly towards Cypher. 'You…', Cypher found it hard to mask the anger from his voice. 'Oh I've been looking forward to this moment'.

Jiri struggled against the force crushing his throat, but managed to get out… 'we.. killed… you…'. Cypher grunted as he answered, 'yes you did kill me… but death is not enough to stop me'.

Cypher put his blade away, and gestured to the rest of the soldiers in the hanger with his free arm. They rose up into the air by their throats. Cypher whispered as he turned Jiri's body to face the soldiers. 'Here's what I'm going to do, I am going to murder every single one of these people, and you are going to watch, powerless as I take away all of their lives. Then I shall take yours'.

Cypher focused his power into the airborne soldiers. All of them begun to desperately struggle against the force pushing against their throats. Jiri could see them struggle for breath, the fear in their eyes as they desperately tried to get air, their bodies struggle and twitch from the lack of oxygen.

Then Cypher clenched his fist. Jiri could hear the crunching sound as the throats of the soldiers were totally crushed under Cypher's force powers. All of the air borne bodies stopped moving. They floated in the air motionless with eerie dread.

Cypher dropped the bodies, they collapsed to the ground, leaving the hanger empty save for Jiri and Cypher. Cypher drew his light-saber and lifted Jiri into the air, 'I shall enjoy ending your life young one… farewell…'.

Suddenly, before Cypher could drop Jiri a voice filled the hanger, 'WAIT!'.

Cypher's head turned towards the voice. Jiri struggled in the air to face the sound as well.

Tyken stood in the doorway. He was covered in a blue liquid. His stomach was patched up. He was leaning against the side of the doorway. He appeared to have very little strength in his body. But he mustered what he could to have his voice carry across the hanger, 'let him go, and I will hand myself over to you'.

Cypher grinned, 'you do not have any chips to bargain with here my friend, I can kill your friend and take you by force'.

Tyken picked up a pistol front he ground. He pointed it at his own chest. 'If you kill my friend, I shall destroy myself'.

Cypher paused, considering his options. He asked aloud, 'you are really willing to die for this one?'.

Tyken responded, 'I owe him much more than I can pay, but my life might be a start. Release him and I will come with you of my own accord'.

Jiri struggled through his constricted throat, 'don't deal with this bastard Cypher! Get yourself out!'. Cypher dropped Jiri, he hit the ground hard. Cypher drew his light-saber over Jiri, he really wanted to kill him, but getting the specimen back intact was what he was really after. He could always come back and kill Jiri after they had finished the procedure.

'Very well my friend', Cypher's voice was almost happy. 'Come aboard my ship. You have my word that I will spare your... companion', he gave a very slight bow as he said it.

Tyken hobbled forth towards the ship that was still lodged in the hanger door. Jiri was still struggling for breath, but managed to get out, 'Tyken, don't'. Tyken smiled as he continued towards the ship, 'I'm sorry Jiri. I'm sorry for everything that I have caused you… but despite all of that, I'm glad to have met you'.

Cypher coughed as he spoke, 'get on the ship now'.

Tyken entered the cockpit of the ship. His hands and feet were immediately bound by the piloting droid.

Cypher continued to cough as he gave his farewell to Jiri, 'enjoy the stay on the station'.

Cypher's cough became more violent as he entered the ship. He spoke through the interrupting cough, 'get us back to the station immediately'. The ship withdrew from the hanger bay door.

The vacuum of space pulled against everything in the room for a moment before emergency force fields went up. The last of the ships power went into pushing the emergency bulkheads shut. The lights begun to dim. Jiri was all alone in the hanger. Alone with a giant pile of bodies.

In the scout ship, they cruised past the remnants of the space battle. Cypher's forces had prevailed convincingly. Scrap floated about everywhere, bodies of humans and aliens were littered about the massive amounts of debris.

Tyken looked onward, he could hear the coughing from Cypher getting worse. He looked over to see Cypher having a blanket put over him by a service droid. He looked weak, frail even. Cypher spoke weakly, only just managing to get out, 'get us back to station omega now'.

Th ships hyper-drive fired up, and the ship disappeared from space. Shortly followed by the rest of the fleet.

Jiri lay on the ground. He already knew that there was no way off the station and Cypher must have known it too, all of the ships had been sent out to meet the incoming fleet. Jiri was stuck. Eventually life support would fail and he would die a slow and painful death.

All he could do was send out an SOS and hope that there was someone nearby to receive it.

He staggered towards the control room. He hit the emergency broadcast button and begun to speak into the microphone. 'Is anyone out there? This is an SOS, there has been - ', he heard a voice that was unmistakable. 'Jiri? Is that you?'. Jiri couldn't believe that he as hearing this voice, 'Plex?'.

Plex responded, 'stay there, we're coming in to get you'.


	21. Chapter 21 - Mourning

Jiri pushed the button to open the hanger bay doors. He hoped that there was at least enough emergency power left to open the hanger and keep the forcefields going, until he was at least able to get aboard the Ninbus.

The Ninbus retracted its landing gears and hit the deck, its walkway lowering as Jiri hurried in. He was greeted by Roruk who patted Jiri on the shoulder as he passed, then helped Jiri up when he stumbled.

Roruk led Jiri into the cockpit of the ship. Plex was sitting at the helm. 'How many do you owe me now? It's a shame I'm not charging you, I'd be a very rich woman'.

Jiri sat in the co-pilots seat still struggling for breath. Plex looked at him with concern, 'what happened?' Jiri motioned outside the ship towards the remnants of the battle. She peered outside, the lights were not functioning, but then they flickered on for a brief moment. She covered her mouth when she saw it. Her eyes looked in horror at all the bodies. 'What… what happened in here?'.

Jiri was still recovering, but offered what explanation he could. 'It was Cypher'. Plex looked even more horrified, 'what? You told me you killed him'. Jiri nodded, 'yeah, I did… and he told me that I did too, but here he was, killing everyone left on the station, and as I could tell he was far from being dead'.

Plex hesitated before asking, 'Lyn?'. Jiri's eyes dropped. It was enough to give Plex her answer. A tear fell down her cheek.

'Cypher…', Plex begun, 'Cypher did all of this?'. Jiri nodded. 'It was…', he struggled to find the words to explain what he saw, 'it was… beyond anything I have seen, or even imagined. He killed a room full of people like… like it was nothing…'.

A silence fell over the cockpit as the three of them surveyed the devastation in front of them.

Jiri broke the silence, 'wait, how… how did you guys get here so fast? Didn't you leave?'.

Roruk roared in Plex's direction. Plex responded, 'yeah, yeah i'll tell him. Look, after you and I… chatted Jiri, and I stormed off, Roruk wanted to know what happened'. Roruk growled in acknowledgement. Plex continued, 'so we hit the cloaking on the Ninbus and begun to argue about it. We must have been arguing for hours…'. Plex looked towards Roruk, who put his paw on Plex's shoulder.

Plex continued, 'then a few hours of arguments, this massive fleet jumped out of hyperspace, we didn't know what was going on. Before we knew it, a massive battle was happening outside the station'.

Jiri asked, 'you didn't join in?'.

Plex reminded him, 'this ship has no weapons or shields, remember? It's the price we pay for the cloaking'. She sighed as she went on, 'we sat and watched the station ships get decimated by the incoming fleet. Then they regrouped and jumped away. Then we heard your SOS, you know what happened after that'.

Jiri was at a loss for words. He left the cockpit silently. Plex and Roruk exchanged a silent look. Plex got out of her seat and spoke to Roruk, 'get her in the air and off the station, just in case anyone comes looking, we'd rather not be here'. Roruk roared, Plex replied, 'it doesn't matter, just anywhere but here'. She left the room after Jiri as the Ninbus took to the air.

She found Jiri sitting in the medbay, head in his hands. She took a seat next to him. 'Everything alright?' she asked. 'I've…', he struggled to get his answer out, 'I've never felt so powerless. A room full of men and women died right in front of me, and I could do nothing to stop it'.

Plex begun to console him, 'hey look, you made it. At least you got out alive'. Jiri's head stayed low, 'and that's something that I almost regret'. Plex was startled, 'wh.. what?'.

Jiri continued, 'a lot of good people just died, Lyn was one of them. She believed in something. Something bigger than herself, a better life for everyone. She believed it right up until the moment Cypher killed her. Every one of those people believed it…'. He paused to collect himself before continuing, 'and now they are all dead, and I am alive'. He added in a sombre tone, 'and what am I?'.

Plex put her finger underneath his chin, pulling his face up to meet her own. 'You… are a good man. You are one of the best men I've ever met. Lyn and I disagreed on a lot, but one of the things we both agreed on was how precious life is. Don't decide that yours in meaningless for any reason'.

Jiri's eyes looked on blankly, Plex was unsure if he had heard her or not. Then he focused in on Plex's eyes, they locked gazes for a moment. Jiri moved in to hug Plex, she hugged back. They embraced for a few moments.

They parted, Jiri spoke, 'thanks', Plex replied, 'sure'.

Then silence. They looked directly into each others eyes for a few moments. Jiri's instincts took over, he moved in without thinking. He pressed his lips against Plex's. She was slightly surprised by this, but then she found her hand moving to his face as the kiss continued.

Suddenly Roruk burst into the room speaking in his wookie dialect. Jiri and Plex parted suddenly, Roruk looked at them in shock. His angry roar echoed throughout the ship. He moved in aggressively. Plex jumped up and put her arms into the wookie's chest, trying to push him away, 'Roruk, what are you doing? Get out!'.

Roruk started to grunt, apparently reasoning with Plex. She replied, 'no he wasn't hurting me, he was kissing me and I happened to be enjoying it until you came in!' More roars followed while Plex continued to try and push the wookie out of the room. Plex answered the wookie's protests, 'yes I know you are just looking out for me, but the best thing you can do for me now is make yourself scarce!'

The wookie left, growling something. Plex called out in reply, 'yes! Thank you!', before closing the door, and hurrying over to her spot next to Jiri.

Jiri was trying to contain his grin. He asked, 'so… you liked it did you?'. Plex met his gaze, responding, 'what gave you that impression?'.

They both burst into a smile. Plex jumped on Jiri, pressing her lips against his and her arms around her neck. He brushed the side of her face with his hand as he kissed her, pressing her face ino his own. She wrapped her arms around his back as she melted into his embrace.

The wookie's voice came in over the comms, communicating something. Jiri and Plex held their bodies close as they listened to the wookie.

After the growling over the comms stopped, Jiri asked Plex, 'what was that about?'.

Plex met his gaze, 'apparently your little friends on Spirious want to see you again'.

Jiri was slightly confused by this, 'wait, what? Those robed little dudes? Roruk, are they on the comms now?'. Jiri had learned enough about how the wookie communicated to hear an affirmative answer, and that is what he got. He gently let go of Plex, promising as he did, 'we'll finish this later'. She smiled in response, 'we'd better'.

Jiri made his way into the cockpit, the short robed alien, Xhal was on the view screen. Jiri asked, 'what do you want?'.

The robed alien gave his reply, 'the time of reckoning has arrived. Please return to our planet, it is time for you to forfill the prophecy and put an end to the evil that plagues the galaxy'.

The view screen terminated before Jiri had a chance to respond.

There was silence as the three of them sat there. Plex looked to Jiri, 'to the planet then?'.

Jiri shrugged, 'we don't have much else to go on at this stage, and I get the feeling the alien knows more than he's letting on. Punch it Roruk!'. The wookie growled happily in acknowledgement as the ships hyperspace drive fired up and shot them into space.


End file.
